


Hope's Monsters

by Kuzuriolu



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demons, Ghosts, Happy Halloween!, Lots of other types of supernatural!, Monsters, Multi, Some chapters have lots of blood in it, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, all characters are involved but the tagged ones are the main ones, halloween fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-27 13:19:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 68,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5050093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuzuriolu/pseuds/Kuzuriolu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto Naegi, a human boy, is accidentally selected to enroll in Hope's Peak Academy, a high school for not only talented students, but for monsters. Though he feels out of place as the only human, he is determined to remain there, even if he might be in danger...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Monster Academy

“Naegi-kun…”

The sound of a soft, feminine voice stirred Naegi from his sleep. His eyes blinked open, his vision a bit fuzzy at first. When the boy’s vision finally restored itself, he remembered exactly where he was. 

“Crap!” he shouted louder than he intended to. “I fell asleep!”

Suddenly, all eyes in the room turned towards the boy, staring directly at him. He rubbed the back of his head, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. That’s right, he was in class, waiting for the teacher to come and begin. But by the looks of it, it seemed as though the teacher was nowhere to be seen. All the fellow students in his class decided they no longer found him interesting and went back to chatting with each other, completely indifferent to the fact that their teacher had gone missing.

“Don’t worry about it,” spoke the voice of a girl who was standing right in front of him. She had been the one who had woken him up in the first place. “It appears Suzuki-sensei is late anyway.”

Naegi frowned, staring at the empty teacher’s desk. “I hope nothing bad happened,” he remarked.

“Something bad? I doubt it. He’s probably oversleeping,” the girl reassured him. She placed a gloved hand to her chin, thinking over the possibilities. “…I’d say the chances of him getting into an extreme emergency are slim, even at this school.”

The boy nodded, relaxing. “Thanks, Kirigiri-san! I would have been embarrassed if he had come back and seen me sleeping,” he admitted.

“I’m sure that he’s used to seeing people sleep in class, though I would expect that you would be the least likely person he would think to see dozing off,” Kyouko Kirigiri joked with a wry smile. 

Naegi smiled a bit at the joke, but he still felt a sense of unease behind it. It had been almost a month since he had enrolled in Hope’s Peak Academy, but he still couldn’t believe the situation he had managed to get himself in. Never in all his life would he have ever thought that he would one day attend Hope’s Peak Academy, a school that was only for the elite. Every single student in this room had been invited to attend because of their extraordinary talents… Well, everyone except for him, he supposed. The fact that Naegi was even in this academy was because of dumb luck, or perhaps even bad luck. Either way, it was purely a mistake that he was enrolled here in the first place. 

Every single year, the admissions department of Hope’s Peak Academy would pick out a random student enrolled in high school to join the class as the Super High School Level Good Luck, and this year, it had been his name that was pulled. However, as it turned out, his name should not have been in the pool in the first place, and the reason why his name was even amongst the students was from a mix-up. 

In reality, Hope’s Peak Academy was hiding a dark secret… one that was almost incomprehensible. 

The door to the classroom burst open, and in came a hurried Suzuki, carrying an entire stack of books in his arms. “Sorry for being late, class!” he shouted out to them, plopping the stack onto the desk. “I’m not used to working these late hours… this schedule of mine is really messed up.”

Suzuki sat himself down in his chair, rubbing his temples. It was clear that he had just woken up, as Kirigiri had predicted. “I’m tired and class is starting late, so let’s have a work period today. Open your textbooks to page one hundred and thirty six and answer questions one through ten at the end of the chapter with a partner,” the teacher instructed. 

Naegi reached into his backpack and took out a rather heavy history textbook. He had never really been a huge fan of history class in general, but as of recently, it had become one of his favorite subjects. There was just so much in this book he had never learned before… it was just so intriguing to him. 

“Hey, Naegi-kun,” Kirigiri spoke out. She had taken her seat next to him. “How about if we work together?”

With a smile, Naegi nodded. “Sure thing, Kirigiri-san!” he agreed.

As the teacher had instructed, Naegi opened his textbook to the page number that was indicated. 

“So, it’s a chapter on mermaids today,” Naegi observed. “Mermaids exist too?”

Kirigiri smiled at him, amused. “Of course mermaids exist, Naegi-kun,” she told him. 

Naegi shrugged. “I just don’t think there’s any at this academy, but I guess I figured they would. I don’t think anything could surprise me at this point,” he remarked, skimming the chapter from top to bottom. There were plenty of illustrations covering the pages, most of them depictions of mermaids from ancient art. He wondered to himself how accurate these artists were. 

Hope’s Peak Academy was advertised as a school for high school students with exceptional talents that were to be harnessed towards a brighter, more hopeful future. Getting into Hope’s Peak and graduating was said to guarantee success at life. Many of the alumnae of Hope’s Peak Academy were famous businessman, entertainers, scientists…. pretty much every career imaginable. While this was true, Hope’s Peak Academy was also a front for an academy full of monsters.

That’s right. Every single student at Hope’s Peak Academy was both incredibly talented and some sort of supernatural creature. …Again, except for Makoto Naegi. The way the drawing for the Super High School Level Good Luck was supposed to work was that they would randomly draw a name of a monster high school student, but for some reason, the name Makoto Naegi had somehow got mixed in. By the time they had realized they had accepted a human boy to attend a high school full of monsters, it was already too late. Just his luck, Naegi figured. He wasn’t the Super High School Level Good Luck at all… he was more like the Super High School Level Bad Luck.

So there he was: just a normal human boy without a fantastic talent like the rest of them sitting amongst a group of elite monsters. He had been absolutely taken aback at first and wasn’t sure if he was going to fit in, but in the end, it seemed that all of the students in his class were fine with the idea of having a human student. Of course, he was a lot different from them so he felt a bit out of place, but they were all kind enough to him.

It had been quite an adventurous first month of high school… that was for sure.

“Oh, it says here that these paintings of mermaids aren’t accurate,” Naegi observed as he scanned through the text. “I wonder what they really look like.”

Kirigiri tapped her finger to her chin. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’d imagine nothing dramatically different. I don’t believe there are any mermaids enrolled in Hope’s Peak Academy… that might be a bit complicated, considering they can’t walk.”

Kyouko Kirigiri was one of the first classmates that Naegi had met. She was quite distant at first, not just with him but with all the other classmates, so it took a little while for her to warm up to him. Now that they were closer, however, Naegi considered her to be one of his best friends at the school. She was quite the interesting person, donning the title of the Super High School Level Detective. Naegi was unsure of how she came to be a detective, but he did know that it had something to do with her family. 

…And, of course, Kirigiri was not a human.

Kirigiri let out a rather large yawn, covering her mouth with her gloved hand. She blinked sleepily and rubbed her eyes, shaking her head. 

Naegi frowned. “Um, Kirigiri-san. I overheard someone saying that there were classes in the night for nocturnal monsters,” he recalled. “But… you always insist on taking day classes.”

The detective girl nodded. “I’d like to live as much like a human as possible for a vampire,” she explained to him. “It’s just easier and more convenient that way.”

Naegi was admittedly not sure how true that statement was. Was it really more convenient for a nocturnal vampire like Kirigiri to sleep in the night and work in the day as if she were a human…? Still, that was her choice and he wasn’t going to be one to question it. 

It was strange how human some of these so called monsters acted. One might expect them to act different, or even savage, but they were really just normal people aside from the whole species thing. Kirigiri was an example of this. Though she was supposed to be a vampire, she continued to act as though she were human, and seemed to hide all the sides of her that were vampire-like. It was almost as though she wasn’t any different from Naegi.

“Shit!” called out a rough voice from the row in front of Naegi. 

“Oowada-kun!” another voice echoed throughout the room from the other side, coming from a boy with jet-black hair and surprisingly, large, white, feathery wings. “Please do not use such foul language in the middle of class!” 

Mondo Oowada quite literally growled loudly. “Christ, Ishimaru! This was the only pencil I had,” he lamented. 

“Let me see that, Oowada-kun!” requested a cheerful looking blue haired girl. She reached for the pencil, which had somehow been snapped in half, and placed it on her desk. She retrieved a beautifully made wand from out of her bag, and after muttering something to herself, tapped the pencil. The pencil magically reformed, looking as though it had never been broken in the first place. “There we go! That should do the trick,” she told him, offering the pencil back to him.

“Man, thanks, Maizono,” he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. He took the pencil and turned back to his work, continuing to scribble down his answers. 

Naegi turned to Sayaka Maizono and blinked in awe. Sayaka Maizono was one of the most popular idols in all of Japan at the moment, but as it turned out, she was also a witch that was studying magic. Back in the human middle school Naegi attended, Maizono was also a student, blending in amongst the various humans there. They had interacted a few times, but he would have never guessed that she was actually a witch, of all things.

All of the students that he went to school with were people who were known for one thing or another… the fact that they were all actually “monsters” was quite a strange thought. Most people had no idea and would never ever consider that sort of possibility.

“Maizono-kun!” the boy with the angel wings shouted, pointing right at Maizono. “You are aware that it is strictly prohibited to use magic in a class that is not a designated magic class, correct!?”

Oowada growled at the boy. “Christ, you have a stick up your ass, Ishimaru. All she did was fix my pencil.”

Ishimaru frowned and placed his hands on his hips. “I believe that this act was intended to be harmless, but I will still have to write you up for breaking a rule, Maizono-kun!” he proclaimed loudly. 

“Hey! That’s Maizono-chan you’re talking to!” shouted the voice of a redheaded boy whose face has quite a few piercings. He was wearing his school uniform with the jacket and tie off and several buttons undone, showing off his toned muscles to the entire class. “I won’t let you do that!”

The angel whipped around and stared down the boy. “Kuwata-kun! I told you not to wear your school uniform like that! I will have to write you up as well!” he shouted out. 

Kuwata grumbled and ran his fingers through his hair. “Why do angels have to be so damn strict?” he muttered to himself. “I already told you that I’m an incubus, man! I have to look like this so I can get my job done. I can’t disappoint my boss anymore.”

There was a low snicker from Oowada. “Can’t disappoint someone who’s already got low expectations for ‘ya,” he joked.

This seemed to cause Kuwata to fluster up. “S-Shut up, you mutt! I’m going to impress the boss by getting just one soul!” he declared loudly.

Naegi sighed. Kuwata, Oowada and Ishimaru often got into arguments like this. He figured after a while of being around them that it was best not to get involved in things like these, as they really ended up going nowhere at all. Maizono, who was the source of the argument in the first place, was now back to doing her classwork, completely ignoring Kuwata and the fuss he was making about her. 

“That’s it! I’m writing you all up!” Ishimaru shouted. He trudged over to his seat to pull out his notepad, only to find that his backpack was no longer there. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hagakure-kun, I will write you up as well! Do you truly want another violation for hiding things!? Where did you hide it!?”

Suddenly, a figure appeared from out of thin air, standing right beside Ishimaru. “Sorry, Ishimaru-chi! I put it under the teacher’s desk, don’t write me up!” he begged.

Ishimaru huffed. “Very well! Thank you, Hagakure-kun.”

The angel walked up to the teacher’s desk and retrieved his backpack and notepad, where he proceeded to write up a notice for Oowada, Maizono, and Kuwata. Hagakure peaked over his shoulder to make sure that he was not amongst the ones being written up, and when he confirmed he was safe, he vanished again into thin air. Perhaps being able to turn invisible was an advantage for ghosts, which hopefully made up for the fact that they were…well, dead.

“Angels are so irritating,” Kuwata grumbled to himself. “But at least we outnumber them in this class.”

Kuwata turned around to look at a girl who had taken a desk in the corner of the classroom and was working alone. “W-What are you looking at me for!?” she practically shouted at him, shrinking away further into the corner. 

The incubus frowned. “I mean, you’re one of us, you’re—“

“—Enough, Kuwata.” The deep voice of another student interrupted him. It was Sakura Oogami, an incredibly tall and very muscular girl, almost astoundingly so. She frowned upon the much smaller boy. “Fukawa does not like to be associated with that sort of thing. We have been classmates for almost a month, you should know this by now,” she scolded him.

The girl, Touko Fukawa, muttered something under her breath before speaking up. “B-Besides… no matter what I am, I’d still NEVER consider myself anything like you…”

From behind Sakura Oogami, another girl popped up. “Good going, Sakura-chan!” she shouted cheerfully. “That’s really nice and considerate of you!”

Oogami looked down at the girl and nodded. “Thank you, Asahina. But I was only doing my job,” she insisted.

At that moment, Hagakure choose to materialize again. “Asahina-chi, you’re like, sort of a mermaid, right? So you probably know the answers to these questions. I mean, they’re kind of tough…” he asked her.

To this, Asahina frowned. “I’m a naiad, that’s totally different!” she protested. “The only similarity is that we both live in water!” She crossed her arms under her chest to show her displeasure. “I don’t know anything about the history of mermaids, honest!”

Hagakure shrugged. “It was worth a try!” he figured, and then went back to being invisible.

Naegi wasn’t entirely sure of what a naiad was, as the first time he had heard of it was when he had asked Asahina what kind of monster she was. All he knew is it was some sort of water nymph who lived in springs and other kinds of fresh water, but not the ocean. …So there really was a clear difference between naiads are mermaids, and it was kind of silly for Hagakure to ask such a thing. Then again, he was a poltergeist who used to be human, so it was possible he wasn’t really well informed of this whole monster thing, anyway.

“Well, either way, Kuwata-kun, I have Enoshima-kun on my side!” Ishimaru informed Kuwata, suddenly changing the conversation back to what it had been before Hagakure had interrupted with his rather silly question.

The angel boy turned towards a girl who was sitting nearby, who was also sporting fluffy white wings. The girl smiled. “Well, us angels have to stick together,” she told him.

Sitting next to the angel girl was a rather quiet young woman with black hair and a freckled face. Though it was hard to tell at first, if you looked really hard, her face actually resembled the angel’s. However, unlike her sister, she did not have any wings. “…Junko,” she spoke sternly. “…It was said that enemy species couldn’t fight, so it’s neutral grounds here regardless.”

The angel, Junko Enoshima, frowned. “Aww, Mukuro, you’re so boring,” she complained in an overdramatic fashion, leaning back in her chair. 

Mukuro Ikusaba ignored her sister’s complaint and went back to work, swiping a pen up from the desk. Something that Naegi had noticed about the girl was that she had a strange tattoo on her hand, one of a wolf. He had wondered several times if it had anything to do with her talent as the Super High School Level Mercenary, but another possibility that came to mind was that it was some sort of a curse mark. But then again, Mondo Oowada, the other werewolf in the class, has no such marking on him, as far as Naegi could tell. Still, Mukuro Ikusaba was mysterious in many ways. Why was she a werewolf when her sister was an angel? How was that even possible? Perhaps there was a lot about the subject that he had yet to learn.

Kirigiri seemed to notice that Naegi was observing the werewolf girl. “The tattoo on her hand is the mark of Fenrir, the mercenary group which she came from,” she explained, seemingly having traced his vision. “There is likely a connection between Fenrir and werewolves, but I am not quite sure. It requires a bit more investigation.”

Fenrir, huh? Naegi would be lying if he said he knew what that was, but he wasn’t exactly knowledgeable in anything related to warfare. That sort of thing was like a completely different world to him. 

Suddenly, Ikusaba turned around, catching Naegi’s gaze. Unsure of what to do, Naegi simply smiled at her, which seemed to catch her off guard. She quickly looked away and went back to her work. Was she embarrassed…?

The door suddenly slammed open, startling Naegi. He jumped up, looking around frantically. 

“Sorry I’m late!” shouted Hifumi Yamada as he entered the classroom. Honestly, Naegi hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t there, but then again, he had been asleep the whole time. Yamada’s hooves pattered across the ground as he ran over to a desk, carrying a cup of hot tea in his hands. Had he been busy making tea this entire time, and was it really so important to do it in the middle of class?

It appeared the satyr was not very careful, however, as he bumped straight into another classmate, causing him to trip and fall over, spilling the hot tea everywhere.

Asahina jumped backwards. “Oh no!” she shouted. “Yamada, Fujisaki-chan! Are you two okay?! Did you spill the tea on you?”

Yamada pulled himself up from the ground, placing a hand on his head and feeling around. “Err… I’m okay,” he informed everyone. “Chihiro Fujisaki-dono… I’m sorry I ran into you.”

A young girl sat up, wiping off her school uniform. “Um, it’s fine… I’m sorry,” she muttered, tears forming in her eyes. She had been carrying a pot of flowers in her hands, and the entirety of it had spilled across the floor in a huge mess. Tearfully, she began to collect the flowers and the dirt from the ground, trying to put it back into the pot.

“Ooh, let me help!” Asahina shouted. “Sakura-chan, come help!”

The two girls bend down and helped the dryad girl pick up her flowers from the ground. Naegi was about to offer to help as well, but it seemed like the combined efforts of Asahina and Oogami finished the job quickly enough. Yamada, on the other hand, was busy picking up shards of the broken teacup, probably a job that was a little too dangerous for him to do by hand.

“How careless,” remarked a girl who was sitting nearby, her hand to her mouth. She was incredibly pale and dressed in a sort of gothic lolita fashion, almost to the point where it was quite overdone. The aura that surrounded her was intense and reeked of danger, and it was especially strong right now. “You really are a useless servant, Yamada. I suppose all satyrs are like that,” she chided. 

“I’m sorry, Miss Celestia Ludenberg!” Yamada cried out. “I tried to get your tea as fast as possible!”

Celestia didn’t seem to be amused. “You still managed to mess that up… I should move the date of your death a little closer,” she taunted, all the while wearing a grin. “That would be quite the fitting punishment, wouldn’t it?”

Yamada broke out in a cold sweat. “Er… But you’re not allowed to do that! Isn’t that right, Byakuya Togami-dono!?” he asked, directing his attention to the blonde boy who was sitting next to her.

“…Hmph… Shinigami can’t just change the date of death, but I have no objections,” the blonde boy spoke out, adjusting his glasses. “I think we would be doing the world a favor.”

Naegi hoped that the two of them were just messing with him, because that was quite scary. After all, Celestia Ludenberg and Byakuya Togami were both a species known as shinigami, which had lots of power over death. He shuddered just thinking about it. He wasn’t sure exactly how much power the two of them had, but considering that Togami came from a wealthy family and was dubbed the Super High School Level Heir, he had to be one of the more powerful shinigami out there. It was likely that Celestia wasn’t nearly as powerful as him, but she made herself look quite intimidating, which was enough to make people not want to mess with her. In fact, she had managed to enlist Yamada as her servant, somehow. Then again, the satyr boy seemed to practically worship her, perhaps even out of fear.

Togami rolled his eyes and went back to reading his own book. It appeared as though he had finished the classwork quite a long time ago. Naegi always wondered what it was that Togami liked to read, but it seemed to be some sort of work he had to do for his job as a shinigami. Neither shinigami were really quite friendly, but Naegi had to admit that he expected that of them. After all, they were gods of death, though “gods” was a bit of an exaggeration, as it turned out.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker turned on. “Pardon the interruption,” a male voice spoke out. “But the headmaster would like to see Makoto Naegi in his office.”

Naegi looked up. The headmaster wanted to see him? 

“Um… where’s the headmaster’s office?” he asked out loud. He had been here for almost an entire month, but he had never had any need to go to the headmaster’s office before, and he wasn’t exactly familiar with the layout of the school yet. 

Kirigiri stood up. “I’ll take you,” she offered. 

Naegi hesitated. “But… shouldn’t you be in class doing work, Kirigiri-san?” he asked, worried.

The vampire gestured to the teacher’s desk, where Naegi noticed the teacher had fallen asleep, probably a long time ago. “It’s fine, besides, he hasn’t noticed all this ruckus.”

“Well, I guess that’s fine, then.” Naegi stood up from his seat as well, collecting his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. He looked back on the class… it had already descended into chaos here, anyway, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to stick around for the rest of it. 

Still, he had to wonder… what did the headmaster want with him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's Kuzuriolu! I wanted to write something for Halloween and this idea has been sitting in my mind, so I decided to write it out.
> 
> Not going to lie, even though it's supposed to he a Halloween Fic.... it's probably going to last past the month of October. I will be updating this fanfic regularly along with Pokeronpa (which I have not abandoned and WILL not abandon) so don't worry!
> 
> Now, let's talk about this chapter. It's an intro chapter to the first group of characters, and honestly I didn't want to do shit where Naegi comes to the school and is like "holy shit everyone is a monster" so we're starting sort of where Naegi knows everyone already. Therefore, the introductions are a little less direct and not as informative. I don't like intro chapters and it felt like a big of a drag to write, and honestly, I am not a fan of this chapter. I just wanted to put the characters out there so you know who they are and what they are. But for now, we're focused on Naegi, so we'll worry about that later.
> 
> I'm not proud of this chapter but I hope the next few can make up for it! Thanks for reading.


	2. The Headmaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating again right away because I'm very excited to write this!
> 
> I was very happy with my reception for the first chapter! Thank you all so much. This one is a bit short, but stay with us.

Naegi followed Kirigiri as she briskly walked down the hallways of Hope’s Peak Academy, her boots clacking against the newly polished floor. There was usually quite ruckus going on in the hallways, so to see it so quiet was pretty unusual. Naegi took some time to observe what the empty hallways looked like, particularly the bullion boards that had been posted up, depicting sign up for after school clubs such as the “Potions Club” and the “Blood Tasting Club.” All of these things sounded so bizarre to Naegi, but perhaps they were just normal at most schools for monsters. 

Kirigiri led Naegi up two flights of stairs to the fourth floor, where she then brought him to a door that was labeled “Headmaster’s Office.” He frowned, feeling a little bit intimidated. He had never met this school’s headmaster before, and he had to wonder… If all the students were intimidating monsters, then what did that make the headmaster? What if he an even more gruesome, frightening monster? He shuddered at the thought. 

“You go first,” Kirigiri instructed.

Hesitantly, Naegi reached out for the doorknob and tentatively cracked it open. He gulped. Why was she so afraid? Was he just acting silly? Shaking off his thoughts about what the headmaster could possibly be like, the human boy pushed the door open and took a step inside of the headmaster’s office.

The headmaster’s office looked about the same as one might expect a headmaster’s office to look. It had plenty of bookshelves, a few chairs for students to sit in while chatting to the headmaster, and of course, the teacher’s desk. At it sat a man that looked to be in his late thirties, wearing a very formal, dark purple suit that matched his hair. He had the appearance of a human, at least, so Naegi’s theory about the headmaster being some sort of gigantic mutated monster was wrong. That made him feel a bit better about talking to this man, at least.

“Makoto Naegi,” the man greeted, a small smile on his face. “Thank you for coming by. Please take a seat.”

Naegi looked around, a bit nervous. Slowly, he sat down on one of the chairs positioned in front of the headmaster’s desk, and then turned back to the doorway. Kirigiri was just sort of standing there awkwardly, giving the headmaster a rather intense look. It wasn’t a very friendly way to greet the headmaster, that was for sure.

The headmaster looked surprised. “Kyouko?” he addressed her, frowning. “What are you doing here?”

Kirigiri crossed her arms. “…I was showing him the way to the office,” she explained very simply. “…That and I wish to be a part of this meeting.”

The headmaster sighed. “This doesn’t involve you right now, Kyouko,” he insisted. “You should get back to class.”

Despite this, Kirigiri simply ignored him and took a seat in a chair next to Naegi, making herself comfortable. The headmaster rubbed his temples and shook his head, but decided he would not argue with the vampire any further. He cleared his throat and took out a few pieces of paper from a very large stack of paperwork that was sitting on his desk, and briefly took a moment to read over them in silence.

After finishing, he placed the papers down in front of him and gave Naegi a small smile. “Sorry for not being able to find time to talk with you previously, I’m a very busy man,” he apologized right off the bat. “I’m the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy, Jin Kirigiri. Pleased to meet you, Makoto Naegi.”

It took a second for Naegi to process this information. “Kirigiri?” he repeated, glancing to the girl who was in the chair next to him. The vampire girl had her arms crossed and her eyes closed, completely ignoring the man sitting in front of her. “Um, does that make you Kirigiri-san’s--?”

“Father, yes,” the man answered. 

That was astounding. He had been here for a good month and never had Kirigiri told him that her father was the headmaster of the academy. He briefly wondered why she did inform him of this fact, but after observing the girl a little closer, it became apparent that she was not on good terms with her father. For one, she refused to look at him and seemed to address him very formally as “headmaster” and not “father” as one might expect of a daughter. Perhaps it was best to not bring this up to much around the both of them…?

“Err… anyway, headmaster, what did you want me for?” Naegi asked. 

The headmaster sighed and looked at his papers. “We really need to talk about this whole situation, Naegi-kun. According to the law, it’s prohibited to have a human student enrolled in a school designated for the supernatural, and I’m sure you don’t feel entirely comfortable about this either. So we have to consider options for transferring you,” he explained to the boy, a serious look on his face. 

“Transferring?” Naegi repeated. 

“Yes. The only reason why you’re here was because of a mix up by our admissions department, and it’s illegal for you to be in this school in the first place, so we need to talk about transferring you into a human school. Now, we can easily have you transferred to some of the other top schools in Japan, so you would be getting a deal either way,” Jin Kirigiri told the human boy.

Naegi frowned. It was true that it was illegal for him to attend here, but it wasn’t like he didn’t want to. At first he had been wishing to leave, but he had admittedly gotten used to being surrounded by supernatural creatures all the time. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he had really come in contact with a human in person. Sure, he had gone out into the town and seen a bunch of humans and occasionally chatted with a storekeeper, but he wasn’t entirely sure that counted. It was scary how used to the situation he was at this point. 

“I object,” Kirigiri spoke out, interrupting Naegi’s inner thoughts.

Jin frowned. “Kyouko—“

“It’s not up to you to decide whether or not he gets to be here. He was picked by lottery as the Super High School Level Good Luck, even if it was a mistake by the admissions department,” she argued. “If anyone has to decide, then let Naegi-kun speak for himself.”

“Kyouko, it’s against the law,” he insisted. “I simply can’t let him stay here. Humans aren’t allowed to be enrolled in a supernatural school.”

Kirigiri looked rather adamant about her opinion. There was really no swaying her mind. “Because…? Nothing is going to happen to him.”

“Having a human amongst a bunch of monsters is dangerous, there’s a lot that could happen to him,” Jin pointed out. “He could be bitten by a creature and turn into something himself, or he could be eaten alive by a monster that preys on humans. We just can’t let humans be introduced to this sort of environment.”

Kirigiri placed a gloved hand to her chin and frowned. “You’re human,” she pointed out to him. “Yet, you’re allowed to run this academy. Why is that any different? What if one of the monster students attacks you? What if you get turned into something?”

This seemed to quiet Jin Kirigiri, who stared in silence at his daughter. The atmosphere was clearly uncomfortable, and Naegi felt like he was intruding on some sort of private conversation. He really shouldn’t be here for this… Still, there was something interesting about what she had just said. Naegi looked over to Jin, scanning him. He was human? Well, it was true that he certainly looked human, but so did Kirigiri, and she was a vampire. But if he was a human, then how was Kirigiri a vampire…? He frowned.

“…All I wish to say is that it should be up to Naegi-kun,” concluded Kirigiri, crossing her arms. She leaned back in her chair, clearly fed up with her father. 

Naegi felt awkward as Jin Kirigiri stared at him, waiting to hear his response. “Um…” he muttered. “Well, to be honest, I really do like it here. It was a bit weird at first, but I think that I fit in pretty well, and I don’t really consider my classmates to be that different from me,” he admitted. “So… I would like to stay, if that’s possible. I know it’s illegal and everything, so maybe it’s not, but if there’s a chance at all that I could stay here…”

The headmaster let out another sigh and placed his palm on his forehead, rubbing his temples. “It’s just not safe,” he reminded them. “I’m only allowed to be the headmaster because I have special protection, but you don’t have guards around you, Naegi-kun. I trust deeply in my students, but I cannot overlook the possibility that something might happen to you. They may seem like humans on the outside, but a lot of them can get violent under certain conditions. I can’t guarantee your safety if something like that were to happen to you.”

Naegi frowned. He didn’t want to consider that something like that could happen to him. After all, these students were all his friends, and he didn’t think that any of them could hurt him. Sure, there were some potentially harmful creatures like Celestia and Togami or Fukawa, but he still felt as though they weren’t much different from him. It was a strange feeling… it was almost like everyone around him in this school was just as human as he was. Perhaps that’s why he felt so safe…?

“I’ll protect him,” Kirigiri volunteered, surprising Naegi.

He blinked. “Kirigiri-san?” he muttered to her.

Jin Kirigiri looked rather surprised as well. “What do you mean, Kyouko?” he asked.

“I’m a vampire, I’m just as strong as anyone else here. If someone tries to hurt him, I will stop them,” she told her father, determination in her tone. 

The headmaster took a moment to think this over, clearly a bit stressed out from the decision. “It’s illegal,” he reminded both of them.

“But you owe me… Headmaster,” Kirigiri replied. There was almost a spiteful tone at the end of her sentence… it made Naegi shiver. What did she mean?

Jin Kirigiri frowned at her words. He leaned back in his seat, still thinking over his options. It appeared as though Kirigiri’s words had swayed him ever so slightly, though not enough. There were still a lot of factors that he needed to consider. It took him quite a while before he could figure out what to say, and during the time of silence, Naegi was simply sitting there awkwardly. The atmosphere in this place was just crushing, not to mention being a part of a conversation where a father and daughter were involved.

Finally, the headmaster spoke. “…But Kyouko, what if the person who was to attack him was you…?” he asked.

Silence filled the room. Kirigiri stared at him with a completely blank look on her face. It seemed as though she couldn’t believe that he had just asked that question. She just stood there for a good few seconds, her fists clenched tightly. Naegi was not a huge fan of the tension that filled the air afterwards, and it was evident by the look on Jin Kirigiri’s face that he regretted saying it.

“She won’t do that,” Naegi assured the headmaster. He had to speak up and break the tension; it was just too much for him to bear. “I trust Kirigiri-san. She’s really not a vicious monster or anything like that. She’s my friend, and she’d never hurt me,” he declared confidently. After realizing the weight of the words he had just spoken out, he flustered. Oh. He rubbed the back of his head, trying to make himself feel a little less awkward about it. He had just declared loudly that he trusted in Kyouko Kirigiri, a vampire who probably had the power to kill him if she really wanted. But she would never do that. He had known her for only a month but she was hardly vampire like at all to begin with, so he trusted in her. Besides, what other choice did he have?

Jin looked between the two of them. “…It seems I don’t have much of a choice,” he remarked. 

A huge grin broke out Naegi’s face. “So, does that mean I can stay here?” he asked eagerly.

“I suppose it does,” decided Jin. “But Kyouko, you need to follow through on your promise. If someone attempts to attack Naegi-kun, it’s up to you to protect him. Do you understand?”

Kirigiri nodded. “Very well,” she responded, standing up from her position on the chair. “Then Naegi-kun and I will be leaving. Let’s go, Naegi-kun.”

It seemed as though Kirigiri wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, probably because she did not wish to be near her father anymore. She grasped Naegi’s hand and tugged him out of the headmaster’s office, almost before the boy could shout a quick thank you to the man. Kirigiri pulled Naegi out into the hallway and a good distance away from the door before letting his hand go and turning to face him.

“Uh, thank you, Kirigiri-san,” Naegi spoke up, feeling a bit embarrassed. “I’m glad that I get to stay here, and it’s thanks to you.”

Kirigiri nodded. “…It’s no problem, Naegi-kun,” she responded rather quickly.

There was another moment of silence between them. There were so many things Naegi wanted to ask her, but he wasn’t really sure where to start. He wanted to know more about Kirigiri’s father, for one thing, but he figured that might be an inappropriate question to ask. From what Naegi could tell, however, the ill feelings really only were there on Kirigiri’s side. What did her father do to her that made her hate him so much? Of course, he would never ask her that question, that was far too personal.

“Do you really trust me?” Kirigiri finally spoke out.

Naegi hesitated. “I do,” he assured her. “I mean, you really don’t seem like a bad person at all, Kirigiri-san. I don’t know why the headmaster even considered that you might attack me or anything like that.”

Kirigiri sighed, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. “I’m sure he had to ask, just as a formality, but it’s still irritating,” she replied. “Either way, I appreciate the fact that you put so much trust in me, Naegi-kun.”

“I guess you don’t really seem much like a monster to me,” Naegi had to admit to her. “I mean, you’re just like a normal human being, aren’t you?”

“Well, considering I was human for most of my life, that’s to be expected,” she commented.

Naegi blinked. “You were human?” he had to ask. Now that she mentioned it, it made sense. After all, her father was human, and there was always that legend about how a vampire’s bite would turn a human into a vampire. Kirigiri also acted a lot like a human and didn’t sleep during the day like you would expect of a normal vampire. He just had never really considered the thought until now.

“Yes, until I was eleven,” the detective answered, frowning. “So I’m used to behaving like one. I suppose you can say I haven’t really adapted to being a vampire fully, but that’s a good thing.” She smiled slightly, but it seemed almost sorrowful in a way. Naegi figured that recalling her human memories must have been painful for the girl. 

Suddenly, a question rose up in Naegi’s throat, and he just couldn’t stop himself from asking it. “Kirigiri-san,” he addressed her. “Do you… miss being human?”

Kirigiri looked at him, her sad smile still plastered to her face. “I do, Naegi-kun,” she answered. “There’s not a day that passes by where I wish I was never turned.” She sighed, looking off at the ceiling. “…So you should cherish being a human, all right? Don’t wish to be anything else but human.”

The human boy had to take a moment to consider her words. He here was, a regular boy, surrounded by a bunch of supernatural creatures with powers far beyond his own imagination. Some creatures could fly, some could use magic, some could breath underwater… but here was a girl who was wishing to be human. He clenched his hands and nodded. Perhaps she was right. 

Being human was a gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're just at the beginning here, but if you didn't notice this whole fanfic is going to focus a lot on Naegi and of course Kirigiri. These two tend to be the focus of a lot of my fanfic (as well as Ikusaba, but she comes in later. And by later, I mean, in like, maybe a chapter) so look forward to a hopefully more exciting chapter next time.


	3. The Werewolf Soldier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Here's another chapter! I'm so glad you've been enjoying this fanfic. You inspire me to keep writing!

Jin Kirigiri had only one photo of his daughter in his office. Every day, in between filling out paperwork or dealing with an upset student, he would look at the photo and wonder where exactly he had gone wrong. He had done so many things wrong in the past few years; it was hard to pinpoint exactly where his first mistake was. 

Shortly after Naegi and Kirigiri had departed from his office, the headmaster did just this. He frowned, picking up the framed photo from his desk and staring at it closely. He was sure that in photo albums he had plenty of other photos of her, but this was the only one he knew of where both of them were pictured. In the photo, he was holding up his young human daughter, around age six, while she smiled cheerfully at him. It was a sweet photo that used to make him smile back in the day, but now, it was just depressing. The young girl in the photo would no longer smile at him and she was no longer a normal, human girl. 

He supposed it was his fault all this happened to her. He placed the photo back down on the desk and shook his head.

“Kyouko,” he muttered to himself, pacing around his office a few times. There was probably work to be done, but he couldn’t take his mind off of his daughter. Every time they interacted with each other, he felt more and more heartbroken. That once cheerful girl hated his very existence. She wouldn’t even call him “father.” 

Then again, he deserved it. He had done absolutely nothing to the girl to make her think of him as a father. So while it was true that she was his daughter, it could not be said that he was her father.

Jin felt sorrowful as he remembered the past. He had been very young when he and his wife had Kirigiri, only twenty-one years old. His wife had been a monster hunter who had introduced him to the existence of the supernatural. Despite being a hunter, she insisted that most monsters were good at heart and wanted to try to protect them. Unfortunately, she was not able to accomplish that in her life, as she had passed away due to illness a few years after Kirigiri was born. Deciding to take up his wife’s dream, he left behind his responsibilities as a father and became the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy, refusing to bring Kirigiri with him. He was afraid that bringing his daughter into the world of supernatural would harm her. How ironic, he thought.

His father had been disappointed in him. The Kirigiri family were all detectives by blood and he had thrown away his family name. He took Kirigiri with him and raised her like a father would, and he completely went out of contact with them for several years. But even then, not a day went by where he didn’t think about his daughter. He was content in knowing that she was as far away as Hope’s Peak Academy for the supernatural as possible. If he had introduced Kirigiri to the academy, then what if something attacked her…? She was a fragile human girl, and there was nothing she could do against a terrifying monster.

One could imagine how shocked Jin Kirigiri was when the admissions department informed him that they wished to extend and invitation to his daughter. She had apparently been a vampire for several years, but neither her nor her grandfather had cared to contact him about it. He still didn’t know to this day what exactly had happened to her, but he blamed himself. Perhaps if he had warned her about the existence of monsters, then maybe she would not have gotten near a vampire in the first place. 

He wished that Kirigiri would tell him what happened, but he knew that she would not. She had no reason to tell him about it, after all. But the curiosity itched at him constantly. Why had his daughter become a vampire, and who had done it to her? Was the vampire who had turned her still alive? He clenched his fists at the thought. He was not a violent man, but he felt rage towards whichever vampire thought it would be fun to turn a young girl into a bloodthirsty monster. He would hurt them if he could, but that would not look good on the record of a human who was supposed to be teaching an academy of monsters. Besides, he had no idea who had done it in the first place, and while Kirigiri might know, she was not telling him, so there was simply nothing that he could do about it.

The headmaster sighed. If his dead wife could see him now, he was sure she would be disappointed in him for letting all of this happen. He had hurt too many people. 

“Kyouko,” he spoke into the air. “I’m sorry.”

He could apologize all he wanted, but he knew that Kirigiri would never accept them. It was far too late to apologize and it was too late to save her. 

After visiting the office and having a quick chat with Kirigiri, the two of them went back to class and sat there as Suzuki, who had just woken up, tried to get his class back into order. It didn’t quite work, though, so nothing really got done throughout the entire class. After that, Naegi decided to take a short break in his dorm room and do a bit of homework while he had the time. It was still fairly early, so there really wasn’t much else to do. The hallways after class usually got a little rowdy and out of hand, at least more so than the middle school he had previously attended. Perhaps the fact that this school was a school for monsters was the reason for that, since there always seemed to be so much supernatural mischief going on.

Naegi completed his homework and sighed. Perhaps now was a good time to go pick up some dinner from the cafeteria. It was probably going to be quite crowded, but he was hungry.

As it turned out, his prediction was correct. The cafeteria was in quite a ruckus, as per usual. Naegi felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead as he went to observe the situation. 

It seemed that Oowada had managed to get into a scuffle with an upperclassman, from what Naegi could tell, and he was making quite the fuss about it. 

“You’re weak!” the upperclassman spat out at the younger yet taller student. “You won’t even fight me!”

“I ain’t like I’m not fighting you because I’m weak or somethin’, I just don’t fight with girls! It’s a policy for my pack,” Oowada retorted, growling at the girl. Naegi had never seen her before, but she looked wild and feisty, and she was daring enough to pick a fight with one of the stronger students in the school. 

“Oowada-kun, Owari-kun, stop this at once!” Ishimaru shouted frantically, his voice in a panic. The angel was clearly distressed by the situation, and as a Super High School Level Hall Monitor, it was his duty to break up any and all fights. However, it looked like neither of the two students were listening to him, and they just continued to fight with each other. 

“What a dumb policy!” the upperclassman, apparently named Owari, shouted. “You and your pack just made that a rule because I kept beating you guys up!”

“That ain’t true!” Oowada shouted right back at her. “We don’t fight with girls of any kind. It has nothing to do with you beatin’ us up constantly!”

“Oh yeah!? Prove it! Fight me right here and now!” Owari challenged, raising her hands up and cracking her knuckles. She looked incredibly tough, definitely not anyone that Naegi would want to pick a fight with.

Oowada growled at her. “Hell no! I ain’t fighting a girl, no matter how much you’re asking for it!” he told her, firm to his own personal rules.

Owari decided to growl right back at him. “I knew it! You and your Crazy Diamonds aren’t wolves, you’re a bunch of terriers!” she insulted.

This visibly upset Oowada, as he looked even more enraged than he did before. “Hey! Who are you calling a terrier!? Besides, don’t bring terriers into this, they’re little dogs who are perfect in every way, just because they’re small doesn’t mean they aren’t special!”

“Break it up!” shouted Ishimaru, attempting to get between the two werewolves. However, he was once again completely ignored, much to his dismay. 

“Your pack you’re so proud of is weak! I’ve stolen like four whole motorcycles from you guys and you never even noticed! What kind of werewolf pack rides motorcycles, anyways!?” Owari argued. 

“W-What!?! So that’s where they went!” the werewolf boy exclaimed, a shock look on his face. “But I ain’t just gonna let you insult my pack! We’re the Crazy Diamonds, a modern werewolf gang! We have to live with the times, ‘ya know? Besides, biking is awesome as fuck!”

Owari rolled her eyes. “Sure, but you can’t even beat a girl,” she replied sarcastically.

“I could beat you!” retorted the Super High School Level Gang Leader. “But I don’t fight girls!”

“That’s just a cheap way of sayin’ you’re too scared to fight me! Besides, you warned everyone in your pack not to fight me after I kicked that one guy’s ass!” the other werewolf pointed out.

“Oh yeah!?” shouted Oowada, clearly in a rage. “I bet I could kick your ass right here and now if you weren’t a girl!”

At this point, there were tears in Ishimaru’s eyes. “Please stop this, Oowada-kun!” he shouted. The angel ran over to the werewolf, grabbing onto his arm. “Do not fight her! Fighting is not allowed on school grounds!”

Naegi just let out a huge sigh. He felt bad for the poor Hall Monitor. His job wasn’t easy around here, was it? The human boy looked around the cafeteria to see what else was going on aside from the obvious brawl. It was just as chaotic everywhere else.

Kuwata was busy attempting to hit on an upperclassman with absolutely no success as per usual. Togami was sitting alone at his own table, a circle of salt surrounding him and a glass of what appeared to be holy water on the table, while Fukawa watched him from the shadows, grumbling to herself. A group of four upperclassmen had somehow managed to start a small fire at their table, and they were now trying frantically to put it out while one of them screamed in terror. Another upperclassman was trying to cast some sort of dark magic spell on his cup of instant ramen, for whatever purpose that served. Just a normal day at Hope’s Peak Academy, Naegi thought to himself.

It was then that he spotted someone out of the corner of his eye, sitting alone. It was Mukuro Ikusaba, one of Naegi’s classmates. Though over the last month Naegi had gotten to know a lot of his fellow students well, Ikusaba was still an enigma to him. She had never bothered to talk to him on her own and often didn’t interact with anyone aside from her sister. Perhaps she was just one of those distant people, but she seemed nice, and he wanted to get to know her better. He knew she was sort of a lone wolf, quite literally… but… perhaps she wouldn’t mind a little bit of company?

His mind made up, Naegi walked up to the table where Mukuro Ikusaba was sitting. “Hello, Ikusaba-san!” he greeted the Super High School Level Soldier. 

Ikusaba glanced up from her meal and stared at him, surprised that someone had decided to approach her. “…Hello, Naegi-kun,” she greeted him, bowing her head a bit. “Is there something you need of me?”

Naegi frowned. Was that the first thing that came to mind whenever someone tried to approach her? “No, I don’t need anything, I just saw you all alone and… well, I wanted to talk to you,” he admitted to her. 

The girl said nothing for a good half a minute. Then, slowly, she nodded. “…That’s fine,” she told him. “You can have a seat.”

Naegi took the seat opposite Ikusaba and smiled a bit at her. Feeling a bit awkward and not really knowing what to say, the boy glanced backwards to the fight that was still going on. Ishimaru had gotten between the two werewolves and was now begging them to stop, tears falling down his face. He was quite emotional, wasn’t he? 

“Oh, Ikusaba-san, you’re a werewolf too,” he suddenly remembered. 

Ikusaba nodded. “That is correct,” she replied. 

“Those two seem to be really angry at each other for some reason, something about packs and whatnot,” Naegi commented, watching as the fight continued. Ishimaru’s attempts to calm the two wolves down seemed to have been futile, as they were still shouting at each other. 

“They’re just being territorial,” Ikusaba explained as she reached with her chopsticks for a piece of meat. “As werewolves do. I don’t see a need for it.”

Naegi tapped a finger to his chin. Ikusaba seemed a bit like Kirigiri in the sense that she seemed more human than what she actually was. Over on the other side of the cafeteria were werewolves supposedly behaving like werewolves, but Ikusaba wanted nothing to do with it. She seemed a lot more… refined? He wasn’t quite sure how to put it. Once again, a question rose up in Naegi’s head. “Ikusaba-san,” he addressed her. “Were you a human at one point?”

The soldier looked a bit surprised, but she attempted once again to muffle her emotions. “Yes,” she replied. “But it was a long time ago.”

Interesting. So she was a bit like Kirigiri in that sense, then. 

She frowned. “How did you know?” she asked. “Did Junko tell you?”

“No,” Naegi replied quickly. “You just seemed a bit more human than those two, I guess.”

Ikusaba stared at the other werewolves, who were still brawling. At this point, Ishimaru was clinging to Oowada’s leg and begging him to stop fighting. “That’s not necessarily a turned werewolf versus born werewolf thing,” she remarked. “It depends on the pack.”

“So… different packs of werewolves behave differently?” he asked. That made sense… that was usually true of any kind of gang.

“Oowada-kun’s pack is the Crazy Diamonds, he’s the current leader,” the girl told him. “The Crazy Diamonds are a pack of werewolves disguised as a motorcycle gang… or rather, it’s both. I came from Fenrir Mercenary Corps, which is a pack of werewolves who were always mercenaries. We were trained to act dignified and not savage. It has nothing to do with the fact that I used to be human… I think.”

Naegi recalled what Kirigiri had said to him previously about Fenrir. She had mentioned that there was likely a connection between Fenrir Mercenary Corps and werewolves, but she needed to investigate it further. It seemed as though her suspicion was correct. “So, Fenrir Mercenary Corps is full of werewolves?” he asked her.

“…Yes,” she replied, still picking at her food. “It is all a part of the job. Werewolves are stronger than humans, so it enhances the ability of a soldier. That’s what Fenrir believed, anyway.”

How interesting… so a famous mercenary group was actually run by a bunch of werewolves? Naegi wondered how many other famous groups were really a cover for monsters. The Togami Conglomeration was actually a group of Shinigami, and heck, Hope’s Peak Academy was a cover for supernatural students. What else was there? What if that one famous software company was really run by zombies, for example? The world he knew had changed. How strange it really was, he thought to himself. 

“Werewolf packs are often disguised as other things,” Ikusaba continued. “They used to disguise as cults or something more traditional, but they’ve been forced to evolve with modern times, which is why we have something like a pack of werewolves on motorcycles.”

Now that he thought about it… it was quite funny. So the Crazy Diamonds were a group of werewolves who rode motorcycles, huh? That was quite the disguise. 

Naegi looked back. By now, Owari and Oowada had stopped fighting. The female werewolf had left, but Oowada still remained, ranting to Ishimaru about the nerve she had. The four upperclassmen had managed to put the small fire out before it grew any further, and they were now sitting at their partially burnt up table in complete silence. Kuwata had been abandoned by the upperclassman he was trying to impress in favor of another boy who had feathery wings, likely an angel. Togami had finished his tea and was cautiously eyeing Fukawa, who was staring at the salt line with what looked to be annoyance. The boy who had been practicing dark magic on his cup noodles had managed to turn all the noodles into small snakes, but was scratching his head as if he had made some sort of mistake while a girl who was sitting across from him shook her head. At least things had calmed down now, or so it seemed.

“That’s pretty interesting,” Naegi replied to Ikusaba with a smile. “You’re a pretty interesting person, you know? I really want to talk to you some more.”

The werewolf shifted nervously and avoided Naegi’s gaze completely, now focusing her attention on a small chip in the wall’s paint. She was probably embarrassed, but she didn’t show it with her face. “…Thank you,” she muttered in a barely audible voice. “…But there really isn’t much for me to say. I am different from a lot of the other classmates.”

“So am I,” Naegi reminded the Super High School Level Soldier. “I’m a human, remember? I’m the only human in this entire school, in fact. But I still get along well with the other students, even though I’m different. So I think that no matter how different you think you are, you still can be friends with them.” He smiled at the girl warmly, even though she was not looking at him and could not tell. “I bet a lot of the other classmates would want to know you more, Ikusaba-san.”

Ikusaba hesitated, and then looked back towards Naegi. Upon noticing his smile, her eyes grew wide. “…I… I must go,” she suddenly responded, getting up from her seat and grabbing the remains of her food. “…Sorry, Naegi-kun.”

Confused, Naegi frowned. “Oh, that’s all right,” he reassured her. “But it was a lot of fun talking to you and getting to know you. I’d like to talk to you another time when you can stay, if that’s all right.”

The werewolf girl nodded ever so slightly. “…Okay,” she responded. “Goodbye.” She didn’t bother to wait for him to say goodbye as well, she simply turned way and briskly walked out, dumping the rest of her food in the trash.

Standing up, Naegi looked around once again. What an interesting experience this had been, he thought to himself. Mukuro Ikusaba was a mysterious student, but he was interested to learn more about her. Perhaps she just wasn’t very social. Either way, he wanted to get to know more about the girl. What was life like in Fenrir Mercenary Corps, and what was it like to be a werewolf…? There was so much he didn’t understand about her, especially how she was apparently born human, but her younger twin sister was an angel. How could that be? …He made a mental note to himself to definitely ask her about that next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm pretty darn tired so I'll keep this short. In this chapter I wanted to expand upon Jin's relationship with Kirigiri in the beginning and give you a bit of insight into her backstory (which we will get into pretty soon, if my plans go as expected) and also introduce Mukuro Ikusaba properly. Both Kirigri and Ikusaba are important characters in this fanfiction. Just like in Pokeronpa, this fanfic is going to be Naegirisaba. What can I say? I really like Naegiri and Naekusaba. Right now there isn't a huge focus on romance, but we'll get to that. Romance is an important part but I want the plot to come first, definitely.
> 
> After this I think I am going to update Pokeronpa, so the next chapter won't be immediately, but do stay tuned.


	4. Demonic Possession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I was going to update Pokeronpa next but I'm at a bit of a standstill with that, admittedly. I'll try to get through it, though.

Naegi had never really considered himself an early riser before he attended Hope’s Peak Academy, but as it turned out, he had become quite the morning person. This was partially due to the fact that he ended up going to bed so early. Even though he was allowed to stay at Hope’s Peak, the headmaster had put a strict curfew on for him. While he was confident that no student would attempt to harm him at night when the supernatural were at their most monstrous, since all the students at the academy were tame, he still insisted he had to put in security measures on the off chance that something did happen. Another contributing factor was just that everyone else in the school slept in later, probably because a good chunk of the school consisted of nocturnal creatures. …That and he had to get to the cafeteria earlier, before it got too out of hand.

Sighing, Naegi slid on his favorite hoodie and zipped it up. It was about seven in the morning, and the school was mostly quiet. Now was a good time for him to eat breakfast and then spend a while to hang out before class started at ten.

The human boy walked down the dorm hallway and then to the cafeteria. Perhaps today he would go for something light, maybe just a bowl of rice. He wasn’t feeling particularly hungry. 

Right as he stepped into the cafeteria, however, he felt a hand grab onto his arm and tug him aside to the corner, behind the plant and into the janitor’s closet. He nearly let out a scream, wondering if it was some sort of supernatural monster here to devour him, but he managed to stay levelheaded, since the possibility of that was next to nothing. 

“D-Don’t scream!” whispered Fukawa, staring at him right in the eye. 

“Fukawa-san!?” Naegi spoke out, confused. “If you wanted my attention, you didn’t need to have to pull me into a janitor closet…”

Fukawa frowned. “W-Whatever! This is a secret, okay? I need your help. From one human to another, a-all right?”

Naegi just nodded. Fukawa was by no means human, but she still insisted on referring to herself as such and got angry whenever someone tried to correct her, so he figured he would just let her do as she pleased. She had even introduced herself as human the day that Naegi met her, prompting confusion from him when it turned out she was really not. Whatever made her feel more comfortable, he supposed. 

The girl hesitated, and then looked over to the door. “Look, I-I need your help for something, o-okay?” she informed him. “I-It’s about Byakuya-sama… I…”

Naegi already knew this wasn’t going to be good. Fukawa had a huge crush on Byakuya Togami, but it was in no way reciprocated. In fact, the Super High School Level Heir found her to be repulsive. She was always trying things to get closer to him, but they never seemed to work, so there was no way that this was going to be any better. 

Gently, Fukawa opened the door just a crack. “S-See death girl over there?” the girl asked.

The human boy looked over. At the corner table was Celestia Ludenberg, sipping her cup of tea. She was also an early riser, and usually the first person in the cafeteria. She always had a cup of tea every single morning. Right now, she was reading some sort of book in a language Naegi didn’t recognize, but it was probably something related to Shinigami. 

“B-Byakuya-sama and her are kind of close, right?” Fukawa commented, staring at her in distain. “So… if I were to just take her body, then I would be able to get close to Byakuya-sama too, right?”

Naegi looked puzzled. “…Take her body?” he repeated.

“E-Exactly,” Fukawa responded, not bothering to clarify. “S-So that’s what I’m going to do! But you have to do me a favor. I need you to keep my body in this closet and make sure no one finds it, all right?”

This sounded like a horrible idea. But what was he going to do to stop her? It sounded like she had her mind made up and there was no hope of changing it, so all he could do was just nod. “A-All right, but be careful, Fukawa-san,” he told her.

“Byakuya-sama should get here at seven thirty,” the girl informed him. “T-That’s about fifteen minutes after that angel prefect gets here to do his usual hall monitoring… A-After Byakuya-sama gets here, that’s usually when you finish breakfast, and once you leave, that dark mage guy usually shows up at about seven forty five, and then at eight, e-everyone else usually shows up… except for the vampires.”

Naegi blinked. “…You memorized what time everyone comes to breakfast?” he asked.

“W-Well yeah! I needed to in order for this plan to work!” she responded. 

Well, if that were the case, then it must have been thought out ahead of time, which should hopefully imply that it was a little better thought out than her usual schemes. …Hopefully, anyway…

Fukawa glanced to the clock. “A-Anyway, I’m going to do it now, so make sure my body is kept right here, o-okay?” she told him, her tone a little forceful. “D-Don’t let anyone find it and don’t let it get hurt!”

Before Naegi could even ask what Fukawa meant, the girl’s eyes suddenly rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed onto the ground like a ragdoll, a hollow thud sounding out as she hit the floor. Confused and a little startled, Naegi approached the body and looked at it. It was… strange, he concluded. It wasn’t like a dead body. It looked as though no life had ever even existed in it to begin with, and it was quite disturbing. It was just a body, neither dead nor alive. Since it was sort of beginning to creep him out, he nudged it over to the side of the closet and stood as far away from it as he could possibly manage in that small of a space.

It did not take much longer before the closet was once again opened, this time by Celes. Naegi panicked briefly, remembering how Fukawa wanted him to make sure that no one saw her body.

“Uh, this is…” he started to explain.

Celes frowned. “I-Idiot, it’s me…” a refined voice grumbled out. It felt so unnatural that it was nearly cringe worthy.

“F-Fukawa-san?” Naegi asked.

Fukawa, who was inhabited Celes’s body, nodded. “G-Geez, this body is disgusting… She’s wearing so many different layers of make up. A-And did you know these drills are hair extensions? I-I bet she really looks nothing like this,” the girl complained, tugging on one of the hair extensions. “W-What a fake… If you’re ugly, then be proud of it! Don’t try to hide it.”

Naegi wasn’t sure what to say. He scratched his head. “Uh…” was all he could mutter. Hearing words that were so blatantly Fukawa come out of Celes’s mouth was just so wrong and unnatural. “So, what’s the next part of your plan?”

“I-I just have to pretend to be this death lady and get close to Byakuya-sama. N-No one will notice that I’m gone, anyway,” she explained, looking off to the side. “He’s coming soon, so… I should go back to her table and drink some of that r-revolting tea. How does anyone even like that stuff!?”

With that, the demon turned and left, her heeled shoes clacking against the floor. It seemed as though she was having some difficulty walking in them, since Fukawa wasn’t exactly used to Celes’s manor of dress. That being said, there were so many holes in her plan that Naegi couldn’t even count them on one hand. First of all, how was she supposed to copy Celes’s personality without being caught? Second, despite what she insisted, someone definitely was going to notice that Fukawa was gone if she wanted this to continue for several days. Third, Celes was a Shinigami and probably knew a lot of things that Fukawa didn’t, so that was going to make it incredibly tough to maintain her disguise. Besides, this was Byakuya Togami she was trying to fool, and even though he was not close to people, he would be able to tell when his co-worker wasn’t herself. 

Shortly after Fukawa had taken a seat back at Celes’s table, Ishimaru came walking into the cafeteria as he usually did, ready to do his morning duties. “Good morning, Naegi-kun, Celestia-kun!” the angel greeted enthusiastically, holding himself up straight and proper. “How are you two doing on this fine morning?”

Naegi glanced nervously over to Fukawa, who was drinking down Celestia’s cup of tea with a look of disgust on her face. She almost spit the entire thing out, but managed to hold herself back. She really was acting suspicious. Perhaps he should distract Ishimaru from the very obvious sight of the pretend Celestia. 

“Ishimaru-kun,” Naegi addressed the boy. “Your wings look especially fluffy today.” It was the first thing that came to mind. It was a bit odd, but whatever helped, he supposed.

Ishimaru grinned. “I am so glad that you noticed, Naegi-kun!” he shouted. “Enoshima-kun informed me of a new brand of wing shampoo! I washed my wings very thoroughly and made sure I got every single feather cleaned up! They are as white and fluffy as newly fallen snow now!” After declaring this, Ishimaru spread his wings apart as far as they would go. Ishimaru’s wings had always looked very big, but his wingspan was enormous. Perhaps this was true of all angels? It was true that today his wings seemed a little shinier, and the feathers seemed to puff out a bit. If it weren’t weird, Naegi would ask to touch them.

“They’re very nice,” Naegi commented. 

Ishimaru looked very proud of himself. “Thank you, Naegi-kun!” he replied, absolutely delighted by the compliment. “If you will excuse me, I must go to monitoring. But I hope we can chat again soon!”

Naegi wasn’t sure why he was so intent on going to do his job when no one else was there, but Ishimaru walked over to his usual spot in the cafeteria and crossed his arms over his chest, keeping a close eye on things, even though there wasn’t even anything for him to keep a close eye on in the first place. Hopefully, though, he wouldn’t notice the fact that Celestia Ludenberg was now reading her usual book, but staring at it as if she had no idea what it even said in the first place. Perhaps it was written in some shinigami language that Fukawa wouldn’t be able to understand.

After a few more awkward minutes of complete silence, Fukawa desperately trying to make sense of what Celes has been doing before she had taken her body, and Ishimaru “monitoring” the cafeteria, Togami finally decided to show up. He took a look around the nearly empty room and then without a word to anyone, walked into the kitchen. 

“He’s going to get a cup of coffee,” Fukawa muttered to herself. “He always gets coffee… it’s his favorite.”

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, Togami emerged from the kitchen with a steaming hot cup of coffee. He nonchalantly walked over to Celes, or rather, Fukawa’s table and took the seat across from her, setting his coffee on the table and then reaching for his bag. From the bag, he pulled out a large stack of papers as well as a book similar to Celestia’s, and then adjusted his glasses. “…Good morning, Celestia,” he greeted.

Good morning? Naegi frowned. He had never bothered to greet anyone else before.

Fukawa seemed visibly shocked as well, and it made her heart skip a beat. It took her a good few seconds to remember she was supposed to be playing the role of Celes, so she simply looked dumbfounded, which Togami instantly noticed. He sipped his coffee and stared at her, causing Fukawa to remember and wash the look off of her face. “…Good morning, Bya--… Togami-kun,” Fukawa greeted back, slipping up even more.

At this point, it was painfully obvious that she was not Celes. It almost hurt to keep watching. 

Togami probably noticed, but he allowed her to carry on a bit further, perhaps for his own amusement, though that did feel a bit out of character. “Did you finish reading?” he asked. 

“…Y-Yes,” Fukawa lied.

“I see,” the heir responded. He adjusted his glasses and looked over his own papers. “…Did you see this? There is going to be a murder at five o’clock today, nearby.”

Fukawa froze up. “…Huh?” she stuttered.

“Genocider Syo,” Togami answered. “It says, five twenty seven PM, cause of death is blood loss due to being stabbed repeatedly with scissors. Do you know of anyone else who would do such a thing?” He looked up from his book, staring Celes right in the eye. Naegi shivered just at the very thought of being on the receiving end of that look. It seemed very… intense. Almost horrifying, he concluded.

The girl couldn’t move. “…Oh…” was all she managed to mutter out.

With that, Togami closed his book and placed it down on the table. He studied her closely, his usual frown on his face. Fukawa was sweating up a storm, beads of moisture tricking down her face and ruining Celes’s makeup. 

The Super High School Level Heir stood up from his seat and walked over to Ishimaru, who had been staring at them the whole time and was now looking rather confused as to what the shinigami boy wanted with him. “You,” he addressed the angel, looking down on him with his usual, hardened expression. “I need your help.”

Ishimaru stood to attention. “W-What is it, Togami-kun?” he asked, nervous. Apparently, angels were not immune to the great Byakuya Togami’s intimidating aura.

“I need you to preform an exorcism,” he informed the angel. 

Ishimaru looked alarmed. “An exorcism!?!” he shouted out, his voice ringing out throughout the entire cafeteria. “Demonic possession is strictly prohibited at Hope’s Peak Academy! Show me to this rule breaker!”

Naegi was not aware that there was a rule in place for demonic possession, but he figured it made sense. He hadn’t really properly looked at the rulebook since a lot of the rules were directed towards specific supernatural creatures and the academy’s expectations for their behavior, but demonic possession was probably one of the things that were listed as intolerable behavior for, well, demons. Naegi felt bad for Fukawa in this sort of situation, but at the same time, he was interested in what was going to happen and he couldn’t look away.

Fukawa held her head low and made her expression unreadable. She knew she had already been caught.

Togami approached the demon girl, frowning. “Just what were you trying to accomplish?” he questioned, his words harsh and tainted with venom. 

“…E-Er, I just thought that… You and t-that death girl are close to each other, right? S-So if I took her body for a few days, you would get close to me!” Fukawa explained at once. She had no reason to lie to him, and the shinigami’s harsh tone brought out the truth in her, anyway. That was just the effect he had on her. 

“How foolish,” Togami responded. “We are co-workers. The thought that there would be anything else between us is ridiculous. I cooperate with her because we share a job, not because I particularly care for that woman.”

Naegi had to think about that for a moment. Was that really true? He had greeted her and wished her a good morning, which was far more than he would do for anyone else. He had no obligation to do that even though they were co-workers, as he had stated. Naegi did not know much about the shinigami world, but he did know that the Togami Conglomerate had a large amount of power over all the other shinigami. Therefore, Celes was likely beneath him, so he had no reason to greet her or to even treat her like an equal. It wasn’t any of his business what the relationship between the two shinigami was, but it was suspicious. Naegi frowned. Perhaps he just believed that there was a heart somewhere within Togami, or at least he wanted to.

Ishimaru huffed, pointing an accusatory finger towards Fukawa. “Fukawa-kun! It is stated in the rulebook that demonic possession is strictly prohibited! Did you not read the rules for demons!?” he inquired.

“No, because I-I’m not a demon!” Fukawa argued back, still clinging onto the idea that she was human. Of course she wasn’t, but clearly she wanted to be.

“If you are not a demon, Fukawa-kun, then how are you possessing Celestia-kun!?” Ishimaru demanded. 

Fukawa did not answer. She let out a frustrated noise and grabbing the top of her head, pulling at her hair.

“…She is a woman who is still chasing after an impossible fantasy,” Togami explained. “She sacrificed her humanity years ago, but she’s still trying to hold on even though there truly is nothing left. 

Naegi did not pretend to understand what Togami meant, and he wasn’t even a part of this conversation to begin with, so he figured it was best not to ask questions. Looking at the demon girl, however, the boy could not help but feel sorry for her. In folklore, demons were described as being creatures who wanted nothing but to see others suffer and laughed the misfortunes of others, but Fukawa wasn’t that sort of creature, was she? From what Togami was saying, it was almost like she wished to be a human. Or… perhaps it was that she was human to begin with…?

Ishimaru was also puzzled. “W-Well, whatever it is, I will have to remove you from Celestia-kun’s body now!” he informed the demon girl. “I will not harm you, I will simply banish you from her!”

The angel held up his hands in front of him and then began to move them in strange, stiff motions. “Banishing, banishing, banishing… Beam!!” he shouted, placing his fingers together in the shape of a square and thrusting them at Fukawa. Once again, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed onto the ground, her spirit leaving Celes’s body. Naegi couldn’t believe that was what an actual exorcism looked like. In the movies, they were usually more creepy and dramatic than that. Ishimaru made it look almost… comedic? Perhaps that was just his own personal style of exorcism, but…

It did not take long for Celestia herself to regain consciousness. She frowned, pulling herself off the ground and then wiping away all the dust that had gathered on her gothic outfit when she had fallen over. “Hm… That was certainly uncomfortable,” she commented. “How annoying… I did not like the feeling of having a demon inside me. She was not treating my body properly and made me look like a fool…” The shinigami girl frowned, looking at most just inconvenienced by the possession. She was not angry or upset, and if she was, she did not show it on her face. Having a good poker face was apart of being the Super High School Level Gambler, after all.

Togami crossed his arms. “Quite annoying,” he agreed. “That demon girl is too persistent. But I think I learned something quite interesting.”

Naegi tapped his chin. The boy wondered exactly what he could have learned from that brief conversation. Was there something that he totally missed?

“Then I certainly hope it was worth getting my dress dirty over,” Celes lamented. “I had this one custom made. But… I digress. We have plenty of work to do before class starts, do we not?”

The other shinigami nodded. “…Then let’s get to it,” he replied.

Naegi stepped away from the table, feeling a bit strange about the incident. He had been an awkward observer and nothing more. He sure hoped that Togami didn’t think badly of him standing there and watching, but then again, Togami thought badly of most people no matter what they did. What Naegi was more concerned about right now than himself was Fukawa. He turned around to the janitor’s closet, just in time to see Fukawa peak out of there in her normal body and walk out of the room without a word. Her plan had failed, but had she been expecting some other result? It was farfetched to begin with. Still, he felt sorry for the girl. There was so much he didn’t know and didn’t understand about her that he wanted to.

This school was just full of mysteries, wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was not focused on Naegirisaba at all, so I apologize. Instead, I wanted to focus more on some of the other characters, because even though they are not the main characters like Naegirisaba, they are still very important! There will be chapters like this focused on other characters so keep that in mind.
> 
> Fukawa is a great character. She's one of my favorites, actually. I was so happy when they announced she was one of the protags for DR:AE waaay back in 2013. And now that it's finally translated into English, I am very interested in Fukawa's character and design. So I decided to put her character a little more into my fanfics (admittedly she has done nothing in Pokeronpa. I... I will fix that). So look forward and let me know what characters you wish to see more of! The SDR2 characters are just as important in this fanfic, so let me know about them too.


	5. Bloodlust (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is part one of two chapters that goes into detail about Kirigiri. This was originally supposed to be one chapter but fuck it, I'm splitting it up. It makes more sense that way.

Even though Kirigiri liked to act as much like a human as was possible for a vampire, she still had to follow a few habits that were hard to break out of. She often tried to maintain a human sleep cycle, but as expected she was a few hours off. It was simply unnatural for a vampire to sleep at night and to spend the day awake. 

When it was time for Kirigiri to grab her breakfast before class, the cafeteria had mostly cleared out, save for a few people. Ishimaru was intent about staying there until everyone had cleared out, for one thing, and a few of the other vampires who took day classes usually walked in at around this time as well. To be honest, even if she weren’t cursed with this nocturnal sleep cycle, she would probably still come in later. It was usually too hectic in the cafeteria, but that was to be expected of a school for monsters. Today, when she entered the cafeteria, Ishimaru was complaining about how he had to deal with a demonic possession. She was glad she had missed out on that.

The girl walked towards the vending machine area. There were plenty of vending machines, like ones that included bags of chips or candy bar, but that wasn’t what she was after. One of the vending machine contained an immense amount of cans, all labeled with a different kind of animal. She placed a hand to her chin and pondered her options, going through each row. “…They’re out of deer,” she muttered to herself. 

Sighing, Kirigiri retrieved a few shiny coins from her pocket and stuck them into the vending machine, selecting a number and letter that were displayed beneath her choice. The vending machine proceeded to push the can out of place, letting it fall to the bottom of the machine with a small crash.

The vampire removed the can from the vending machine and popped open the top. They should really redesign those machines. It wasn’t practical for a can to fall to the bottom like that. What if it dented or broke?

With her breakfast in hand, Kirigiri briskly walked out of the cafeteria and back to her own dorm. There was no reason for her to remain there. Besides, she preferred to eat in private.

Upon arriving back, Kirigiri took a seat on her bed and looked at the open can. The scent of cow blood filled the room, and she felt her throat burn in thirst. Cow blood was by no means her favorite nor was it very satisfying, but it would do. It had to do. There were no other alternatives she was willing to take.

Kirigiri took a sip and swallowed, feeling a small amount of relief as the blood dripped down her throat. It would make her feel better for the time being.

Unable to contain her hunger any further, Kirigiri practically chugged the drink. She hated how easily she gave into her instincts sometimes. It was disgusting... almost monstrous. 

What had she become? Kirigiri gritted her teeth together, her two, enormous fangs scratching at her bottom lip. She hated this. She hated the way things had gone. All she wanted was to turn the clock back and stop her eleven-year-old self from acting so stupidly on that fated day. How could she have been so careless?! Her hand gripped the empty can tightly, her fingers digging into the aluminum. She had been so foolish, so stupid, so…

The can crumbled into a small mush of aluminum in Kirigiri’s gloved palm. She released it, letting it fall to the floor. Sometimes, she forgot how much stronger her transformation had made her. 

The vampire leaned back on the bed, focusing on the ceiling. The last five years had felt unreal, like some sort of nightmare that she hadn’t been able to pull herself up from. She just wanted it to stop. She wanted to go back to when she was a young human girl who aspired to be a detective just like her grandfather, and knew nothing of the cruelty that was the supernatural world.

…

Kyouko Kirigiri had recently turned eleven years old. She was still young for someone who aspired to be a detective, but she held promise for the future. It was too early for her to take on real cases and her grandfather certainly wouldn’t let her, but it was fun to try to take a stab at some cases, even if she wasn’t doing it professionally. When it came to being a detective at age eleven, all she really did was listen to her grandfather describe his cases, all the while trying to figure out who had done it in her own head. Her grandfather was something of an inspiration to her. He was so smart and so kind, and he could solve even the most difficult of cases.

“You’re a Kirigiri,” he had told her. “Being a detective is in your blood.”

She believed in his words completely. As a Kirigiri, it was her destiny to follow what her family had done for generations. 

However, her father had not agreed. For some reason, he had decided that being a detective wasn’t going to be the path that he took, and he instead decided to become the headmaster of the famous Hope’s Peak Academy, leaving behind his daughter in the hands of her grandfather. He had insisted that she did not come with him. To a young girl who at the time had looked up to her father, it was the ultimate betrayal. 

Her grandfather, Fuhito Kirigiri, had insisted that his son was no good and that she had done nothing wrong. He cheered her up by teaching her about the Kirigiri family and showing her how to become a detective, and she knew then that she was going to take the path of her family and not the one that her father had. Besides, that man had left her behind. He no longer had the right to be considered her father.

The young Kirigiri had been ambitious and genius, but at the same time, foolish. She was a detective, after all, and she wanted to prove that to all the other detectives at her grandfather’s Detective Library, and she wanted to get her ranking as a detective up as much as she could, so she could become a master like her grandfather. 

It was when a local murder happened that Kirigiri saw her chance. She knew she was only eleven, but she was sure that she could solve it. ...And as it turned out, she could. 

It was a nasty case. The victim had been attacked in an alleyway and had gotten their neck snapped and broken, so it must have been quick and painless, but shocking. The murder had taken place about twenty minutes away from her grandfather’s house, so it wasn’t hard for her to sneak around the scene. It was rather late at night, so there were hardly any witnesses, but Kirigiri was able to pick up on a few key pieces of evidences. It took a few days for her to put the pieces together, but finally she was able to pinpoint the crime on a woman who lived a few streets down from her. 

When she told her grandfather her conclusion, he looked concerned.

“Kyouko,” he addressed her. “It’s a bit early for you to be getting into cases like this… You could easily get hurt… But nevertheless, you did a good job.”

Kirigiri nodded, feeling proud of herself. “…Thank you,” she responded. “I really do think she’s the culprit, so something has to be done about it before she takes another life, or…”

“Don’t worry about that, Kyouko,” he assured her. “I’ll get someone on it.”

Kirigiri and her grandfather quickly went to the police with the information that she had provided him, and they responded that they would look into it right away. Her grandfather assured her that the police were going to arrest her and her crimes would be over, thanks to Kirigiri, but there was still another part of her that was so foolishly curious. She was sure she had gotten the right culprit, but she needed to know right away. Looking back on this memory, Kirigiri realized she had been so stupid and impulsive, but who was to blame a young eleven-year-old girl? Did she truly know any better? 

Shortly after the police left to confront the suspect, the young detective girl decided to follow. She tailed the two police officers that had decided to take the job, and went right with them to the suspect’s house. Of course, she knew that it wouldn’t be wise to actually enter the house, so when the police burst in, she simply walked up to the doorstep and stood against the wall, trying to listen in on what was going on. 

Unfortunately for her, it was a little hard to hear.

The first police officer shouted something about arresting the woman for suspicion of murder, and the second requested her to come out to the car slowly and without hassle. The woman didn’t seem to be all that amused, as one might expect a person who was being arrested to be, and calmly argued that she was not the murderer and that she had no reason to come with the police. The police insisted that if she really was innocent then there should be no problem in coming, but she told him that doing so would be a waste of her time. She apparently was a busy woman and she had no time to deal with something so inconvenient to her. 

Kirigiri could not make out the rest, but it ended up with the police officers shouting and a loud crash from inside the house. For a moment, she considered running away from the scene, but morbid curiosity did her in. The young detective took a step into the house and into the hallway. It appeared as though the commotion was coming from the living room around the corner, so she went to the end of the hallway and pressed herself against the wall, taking a peak around the corner. 

The two policemen were each holding a gun at the lady, who did not look the slightest bit intimidated. She frowned, twirling a strand of her black hair. “I’m not coming with you, that’s final,” she stated firmly.

“Then we’ll have to charge you with resisting arrest,” the police informed her. “Come with us before we have to resort to extreme measures.”

“Is that so?” the woman responded with a loud sigh. There was a fair bit of silence after, and all Kirigiri could really hear was the rapid beating of her heart up against her chest. Kirigiri didn’t really like the sound of her blood pumping… it made her shiver.

“Fine,” answered the woman. “I did it.”

Kirigiri’s eyes widened. Was that a confession…?

“…By god, that little kid was right,” one of the policemen remarked. “She’s sure as hell that old detective’s granddaughter.”

“Well, all right. Come with us, then,” the other police officer told the woman, ignoring his partner’s comment. “We won’t hurt you.”

There was no time for Kirigiri to be proud of herself. She was standing within the vicinity of a murderer that she had helped catch. If that woman saw her standing right there, then there was a good chance that she might be attacked for exposing the truth, never mind the fact that the police were there with her. She had to get out of here, fast. 

But as she turned to walk away, there was a suddenly crash from the other room, and then the scream that she could only presume came from one of the police officers. The man wailed for several seconds, and then suddenly, there was complete silence. Whipping around, Kirigiri realized that something had gone wrong. 

“Holy shit!” one of the police officers screamed out. “You just broke his neck with your bare hands, and in two seconds!!! What the fuck are you!?”

Kirigiri’s heart felt as though it had froze. What…? No human being could break the neck of someone else so quickly and effortlessly. Sure, the other victim had his neck broken by her, but she didn’t suppose it happened that quickly! 

She wanted to run away, but it felt like someone had glued her shoes to the bottom of the floor. She was a detective, sure, but she had never before listened to someone’s dying screams. A sick feeling welled up within the pit of her stomach and she felt as though she was going to lose her lunch right there. That man had a family and his own life and ambitions, and within two seconds, she heard it completely wiped out.

But oh god, that was going to be her if she didn’t get out of here. She had to do something, had to run—

The policeman seemed to have had a similar idea, since he dashed right around the corner and knocked into Kirigiri, causing her to fall flat on the ground. She didn’t react for several seconds, unable to register what was going on. Oh why did she have to come here? It was not even thirty minutes later and she already regretted it. This couldn’t be the end of her life…! 

The woman’s heels clacked against the ground as she approached the two, a frown on her face. When the policeman realized that he was on top of a young girl, his eyes widened. “Why are you here!?” he shouted to her, anger in his tone. 

“I…” was all she muttered out.

The man didn’t wait to hear her answer and stood up, pulling out his pistol and quickly taking the safety off. He didn’t waste another second before firing it, sending several shots into the woman’s stomach.

However, the woman looked only slightly inconvenienced. She looked down at her stomach, her white dress quickly staining itself with crimson. “You shot me,” she commented, sounding almost bored. “You even ruined my favorite dress.”

The police officer looked stunned. “W-What!?” he shouted before emptying another few cartridges into her stomach. Each shot continued to stain her dress further, but it didn’t look like she was being injured at all. 

With a loud sigh, the woman approached the man, who still continued to fire more rounds into her, and grabbed onto his neck with both of her hands. There was a swift, loud crack, and then the policeman fell to the ground on top of Kirigiri, all the life leaving him instantly.

Kirigiri’s hand twitched. She couldn’t move, not with a dead body on top of her. He was still warm, but the life was already completely faded away from him, and she knew that in a matter of minutes that he would become completely cold. Was this what death felt like…? It was cruel, too cruel. That man hadn’t woken up expecting to have his life ripped away from him, but within a second, it was already gone. The realization that she was going to end up the same way within a few seconds hit her like a truck, and her eyes shot open. She had to move. Frantically, Kirigiri tried to kick the heavy corpse off of her, but she was only an eleven-year-old girl. There was no way she could muster up that kind of strength, even with her adrenaline pumping.

It was all over, wasn’t it?

The woman kicked the body off of Kirigiri with ease, and before the detective girl could react, grabbed her by her sides and lifted her into the air. Kirigiri’s eyes met the woman’s, and she felt cold sweat run down her forehead. The woman’s expression looked completely calm and her eyes showed no sense of guilt for what she had done, nor did she look effected at all by the fact that she had just murdered two men. What kind of woman was she... and how was she even still alive? Her stomach had to have been shot at least fifteen times, yet she was acting as though nothing had happened at all. When Kirigiri looked down at her stomach, she noticed that while the dress was still stained with blood and torn up, the exposed skin on her stomach was drenched but completely healed up, as if no one had shot her in the first place.

“What should I do with you…?” she pondered to herself. “You’re such a young girl. But that police was saying something about a young girl finding out I was the culprit, right? That was you.”

Kirigiri couldn’t answer. 

“How should I punish you?” she wondered. “I’d feel bad murdering a young girl. Besides, you were smart enough to track me down when none of those other adults could do it. Perhaps you don’t need a punishment… I should reward you instead.”

Before Kirigiri could even wonder what she meant, the woman pushed her to the ground, holding her down by the shoulders and gripping her with such extreme strength that she thought her bones were going to break. The woman observed her closely, eyeing her up and down. “You’re a smart young girl,” she remarked. “It’s a shame when people like you pass. Life is so short, it’s really not fair, is it?” The woman smiled a bit. “It’s all right though. Don’t worry… I’ll make things better… I’ll save you from your horrid curse…” 

The strange woman licked her lips, and all Kirigiri could feel was pure terror. What was she saying? What was she going to do? 

Suddenly, the woman’s eyes turned a deep red. Kirigiri stared into those strange, inhuman eyes, confused and absolutely horrified. What was this woman? She leaned in close to Kirigiri’s face, her hot breath tickling her neck. 

That’s when the woman suddenly bit her neck, hard. Kirigiri nearly screamed out, but the woman used one of her hands to cover her mouth. By now, the neighbors were surely concerned of what was going on, so she had hope that someone would come and notice what was happening. …But what was even happening? Kirigiri could feel two, sharp dagger like objects buried deep within her neck, and the sensation of her own blood being sucked away. Her mind was a blur; it was almost impossible to tell what was real. 

This woman had survived being shot several times, killed two men with her own bare hands, and now, she was... drinking Kirigiri’s blood….

But how was this real!? Vampires didn’t exist, they were just creatures of legends that were made up to scare small children and to entertain others with various works of fiction. Yet, there was so much evidence pilling up that it was almost impossible to deny. This woman had super strength and could heal herself within seconds, and she was drinking blood. Kirigiri could barely comprehend the reality of this seemingly fictional situation she had found herself in. 

Then, the harshest realization struck her, sending shocks of horror throughout her entire body. When a vampire bit a human, they… they… 

After about thirty seconds of Kirigiri sitting there in pure shock, the woman pulled back and wiped the blood from off of her lips. She grinned, her whitened fangs stained with the detective’s fresh blood. 

“Don’t worry,” she told the girl, almost in a reassuring, calming way. “It’s won’t be easy at first, but you’ll adapt. You’re a smart girl, I know you’ll find a way.”

Kirigiri couldn’t say anything. She knew what the woman meant, but she didn’t want to believe it.

The woman looked over her shoulder. The sound of sirens blaring was coming from down the street, indicating that more police were coming. She muttered a curse word to herself and then dashed out of the door with speed no human was capable of, leaving the young detective behind, lying in a pool of blood.

After that, no one ever saw that woman again. 

…

Kirigiri pulled herself up on her bed, her fists clenched at the thought of that woman. It had been five years and no one was ever able to track her down, not even with the help of her grandfather, who was absolutely furious after learning what she had done to his granddaughter. She herself had searched everywhere she could imagine, but there was no sign of that woman to be found. …Then again, what was she going to do if she found that woman? She hated her with every fiber of her being for turning her into a monster, but she could never kill her. She hadn’t fallen that low. She would never be that kind of vampire. 

Gently, the vampire touched the spot on her neck where she had been bit. Why did that woman turn her? What was her motive? She had said it was to rewards her, and she had acted as though she really thought she was doing a good thing by turning her. What made a vampire stoop so low that they had to change an innocent young girl into a vicious monster?

Kirigiri knew nothing of that woman’s past, but she had to assume that she was one of those vampires who had been born one. Perhaps being a vampire was all she ever knew and she did not understand what a gift it was to be a human. …Or perhaps, was she once human too? What if she did it because she wanted Kirigiri to share her suffering…? 

She would never know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that I have bumped the rating up to M and have tagged this with "Graphic Depictions of Violence." This is not something that will be usual in this series, but the next chapter has some disturbingly violent scenes. ...And hey, we're dealing with blood and monsters, so it's better to be safe than sorry.
> 
> I'm sorry it took too long to update. I was writing this and the other half of the chapter and I was finally like you know what? I'm splitting it in two, because it works better anyway. 
> 
> Writing this scene was tough. It was hard to write what exactly happened. Honestly I envisioned it differently, but sometimes I have trouble putting it exactly how I want it. That's why I often get dissatisfied with my writing. 
> 
> Next chapter will be a continuation of Kirigiri's past and then we'll get back to the main story. Of course, this is a part of the main story and is really important, so there's that too.


	6. Bloodlust (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more of a monster than any character that is in this fanfiction.

Transforming into a vampire was not like many works of fiction described it as. When a vampire inflicted a human with their venom, it acted slowly and painfully. The transformation was gradual, and it was by no means pain free. Every single day, the human would turn even more vampire-like, until one day there was nothing left in them that could be considered human. That was what had fooled Kyouko Kirigiri for at least a week. 

After being bitten, Kirigiri had run home before anyone could discover her at the scene of the crime. She crawled into bed and huddled up, wondering what was going to happen to her. A vampire had bitten her, and in works of fiction, humans who were bitten by vampires became one themselves. Of course, that could very well just be legend, but books and movies were all Kirigiri had to go off of. After all, she had thought the species to be legend up until a few minutes ago.

Kirigiri touched her front teeth. Nothing was there, and she didn’t feel like she was turning into a vampire. Perhaps everything would be fine, she told herself. 

She kept telling herself that nothing would happen for about a week, since the transformation wasn’t instant, but it was only a way for her to calm herself down. She tried to proceed with life as normal, but it was tough when the whole incident with that woman kept being brought up. No one knew that she had been there at the scene and she dared not tell anyone about what had happened to her. It wasn’t like she knew who to contact about it, anyway.

After a week, the changes started to set in slowly, one by one…

It started out as a light headache, Kirigiri recalled. She passed it off initially as just that, but it grew worse, and descended into a light fever. It wasn’t so bad that she couldn’t go to school, but her grandfather definitely noticed that something was wrong with her.

“Kyouko,” he addressed her one morning, while she was about to eat breakfast before school. “You don’t seem to be yourself. Are you falling sick?”

Kirigiri just gave her grandfather a nod. “I think so,” she responded, staring at her breakfast with disinterest. She just wasn’t hungry at all. 

“You should stay home from school,” he recommended. “It won’t be any good for your health to go and push yourself further.”

Staying home from school would just set her back, even if she wasn’t in the mood to do it. Truthfully, after the incident, she wasn’t in the mood to work at all. “It’s fine,” she assured him. “I’ll be fine.”

Kirigiri hopped off of her seat and pushed her bowl towards her grandfather, indicating that she was done eating. She quickly thanked him and then scurried back into her room. She had a few minutes before she had to leave to go to school, so she might as well make use of them.

These days, however, every time she was alone she would just get flashbacks to what had happened previously. She shivered as she remembered the feeling of fangs in her neck, and she gently reached and touched the place she had been bit. She hadn’t realized it until just now, but it was the slightest bit red, and it was starting to itch. In a panic, she brought her fingers to her mouth and felt around her top teeth. When she realized that all was normal, she let out a sigh and let her hand drop back to her side. She hadn’t grown fangs or anything like that, for now at least.

After a few minutes of standing there aimlessly and occasionally scratching the mark on her neck, Kirigiri decided it was time to leave. She stepped out of the comfort of her house and into the street. It was a beautiful day, with no clouds in sight and the bright sun beaming down on her…

It took a few minutes of walking for Kirigiri to realize that something was wrong. Her whole body was sweating profusely, and it felt as though she had been thrown into a boiler. The weather channel had only listed it to be about sixty degrees, but Kirigiri swore it had to be at least close to one hundred. Was the weather channel just inaccurate? She stopped walking and took a look around the street, but found that some people were even dressed in jackets. 

Kirigiri’s whole head was spinning and she felt as though she were about to collapse. It was suddenly so bright and her eyes felt like they were going to burn right out of their sockets. Definitely too sick to go to school, she concluded, and then turned and hurried back home.

When she stepped back in, her grandfather was still there, looking concerned. “Kyouko?” he called to her. “Are you all right?”

“You were right, I’m going to take the day off from school,” she responded, not bothering to elaborate on what had happened. Then, she swiftly returned to her room.

It was still too bright, so she closed the shutters and dimmed the lights as far as she could. Kirigiri huddled herself into her bed and draped the blankets around her, shuddering. She was feeling chilly now, but at least it was more bearable than being outside. She laid herself down, trying to deal with the throbbing pain that was still present in her head. It was spreading to the rest of her, and her stomach was churning in protest. Her muscles ached and her whole body felt weak, like someone could break it in half. The most annoying thing of all, though, was the itch on her neck and the soreness that rested in the back of her throat.

Kirigiri closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep to the best of her ability. It took perhaps an hour before she could finally doze off.

When she awoke afterwards, she felt a bit better, but it was already late at night, around time for dinner. She had managed to sleep all day, apparently, and her grandfather had not woken her up. At least for now the throbbing headache had passed, she thought as she scratched at the mark on her neck. It was itchier than before. Perhaps she should put some cream on it to stop it from itching so badly.

The girl walked into the main room to see her grandfather on the couch, reading a book. When he heard her footsteps, however, he instantly put it down and looked at her with concern. “Are you feeling a bit better, Kyouko?” he asked her. “I didn’t want to wake you up. I was worried.”

Kirigiri just nodded. “I’m feeling a bit better, thank you,” she responded.

“That’s good to hear. Would you like something to eat for dinner? You haven’t been eating much recently,” he asked.

Kirigiri frowned and thought about it. She really didn’t feel hungry, and the just the thought of having to eat anything was making her stomach churn unhappily. She hadn’t eaten for what felt like days, but she still just wasn’t hungry at all. “I’m fine,” she reassured him. “My stomach doesn’t feel well, if I eat anything now, I’ll probably just throw it up.”

Fuhito Kirigiri gave her a look of concern. He was always very worried about his daughter and could be over protective of her at times, so it was no wonder that he was feeling uneasy about her current condition. Kirigiri cringed at the thought of telling him what had really happened a few days ago, but knew that at some point, it would come out. He was a very observant man, after all. “Is it what happened with the lady that’s making you upset, Kyouko?” he asked her gently. “You shouldn’t feel bad about what happened. You found the culprit brilliantly, what happened afterwards wasn’t your fault.”

The young detective tensed up. “It’s not that,” she insisted. “I just fell sick is all…”

“Well, all right,” he responded with a sigh. “But if you want to talk about what happened, then I’m always listening, Kyouko.”

“I know,” remarked Kirigiri, flashing him a small grin. If there was one person that she could trust, it was her grandfather, but she didn’t know how to explain to him that a vampire had attacked her. The reality of that whole situation still hadn’t exactly processed in her mind yet. She gulped, suddenly feeling a wave of nausea hit her. Without trying to look too suspicious, Kirigiri turned and went back to her room without another word to her grandfather.

Kirigiri crawled back into her bed. She had been sleeping for far too long before, so her body would not let her go to sleep now. Really, napping for so long had just thrown off her schedule and now she had a bit of a headache. Grumbling in annoyance, she grabbed her head and massaged her temples in an attempt to ease her headache. This is why napping for so long was never a good idea, she thought to herself, but at least it had made her feel better for a bit. She just wished her throat would stop aching. It could hardly be described as just sore anymore, it was downright burning in pain, like all the moisture in it had dried up completely. The girl reached out to the bottle of water she kept on her nightstand and downed it, but the cascade of water that seeped down her throat did nothing to ease the dryness.

In confusion, Kirigiri touched her throat. She felt thirsty… so thirty, in fact, that it felt like she hadn’t drunken anything in decades.

Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open with realization. She grasped onto her neck, at the spot where the woman bit her. Oh god… oh god… those two words kept repeating over and over again in her head. She pulled herself out of bed, ignoring the nausea, and practically sprinted to the kitchen, ignoring her concerned grandfather. She took out a glass and poured as much water as she could into it. Perhaps if she drank enough, she would feel better… right? She chugged the water down her throat, but found that the lingering thirst and the horrid dryness would not fade. In a desperate panic, she filled up yet another glass and downed it, only to have the same result.

Slamming the glass down on the counter, Kirigiri desperately tried to consider alternative explanations for what was going on, but couldn’t find any reason why the water wasn’t quenching her thirst. Shakily, she reached a hand up to her top teeth and ran her finger over them, but found that they were all normal. Relief flooded her, but only for an instant. That wasn’t necessarily a good sign…

After attempting to reassure her grandfather that she was fine, Kirigiri went back to her room, where she stayed up all night, doing nothing but worry. The dryness in the back of her throat never went away, and by the time she was tired again, the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. 

The next few days passed by slowly and painfully. Every single day, Kirigiri was tormented by the thirst that rested in the back of her throat. There was no way for her to quench it, she quickly found out, so she simply had to deal with it. Steadily, it got worse and worse, and she started to get spells of dizziness and headaches alongside the throat pain. Still, no matter how many times she checked, her teeth were normal, and there were no signs of fangs.

It was only until another week had passed that things began progressing once again…

As it turned out, there was another murder in a town nearby, and of course, Kirigiri’s grandfather had been immediately contacted the moment of the discovery to come and investigate the body. Since he was very impressed with his granddaughter’s last case, he offered for her to come with him and investigate to help further her promising career as a detective. Recalling what had happened last time, Kirigiri almost refused, but then figured that she had to get a move on with her job. Besides, it might be good for her to get back into the normal swing of things, since she couldn’t just stick around and feel badly about herself forever. 

“I should warn you now, Kyouko,” Fuhito spoke to his granddaughter as they were about to leave. It was still daytime, but Kirigiri just hoped that she wouldn’t have any issues with it. “Dead bodies are very disturbing, so you should be prepared.”

Kirigiri just shrugged this off. “I’ve seen dead bodies before,” she reminded him. “It’s not a big deal.”

“All right, let’s go, then.”

With that, the two of them walked to the bus station and took a bus to the scene of the crime. Kirigiri was thankful that the bus station wasn’t that far away, because the sun was still a huge obstacle. Being in the bus helped, but it was still horribly bright, so she had to close her eyes for most of the way to block out the light.

The bus took them decently close to the scene of the crime, but there was still some walking that had to be done. Annoyed, Kirigiri tried her best to block out the brightness, but heat was quickly burning her skin. Even though it was unbearably hot for her, she found that covering her skin with her jacket eased the pain a little bit. 

“We’re almost there,” her grandfather assured her. He stared at his granddaughter for a few seconds, sensing something was wrong, but not voicing his concerns to her.

Kirigiri just nodded, wanting to get on with it. Perhaps there would be shade she could stand in or something. Unfortunately for Kirigiri, she hadn’t exactly thought things through completely…

The moment the two of them approached the large, yellow tape that read “Crime Scene,” Kirigiri knew something was wrong with her. Her nose was suddenly assaulted with an overwhelming scent, which she could hardly describe. It didn’t smell bad… it was just terribly overpowering, and it made the back of her throat burn. Stepping backwards away from the tape slightly, Kirigiri tried to control her head. The scent was starting to overpower her senses, and she couldn’t focus on anything else. Her surroundings and the sounds around her suddenly became completely irrelevant compared to the intense smell coming from behind the crime scene tape. Taking a deep breath, Kirigiri realized that the scent was tantalizing… it almost smelled like a delicious meal ready to be devoured. 

“I never really liked the scent of blood,” her grandfather remarked, frowning. “You never get used to it.”

Blood…? Kirigiri sniffed the air again. She had smelt blood plenty of times, but this didn’t seem like the scent of blood. The delicious smell wafted into her nose, her throat growing drier. The thirst that had been sitting within her for the past week flared up stronger than ever before, and her mouth seemed to be crying out for some sort of fluid. Whatever was on the other side of the tape, her body was craving it, calling out for it…

…Blood…

Taking another step back, Kirigiri gripped her throat as her own mind began to betray her. She craved blood. She needed to feel the warm liquid pouring down her throat, and she desired nothing more than the taste of the delicious nectar on her tongue. Images began to flash through her brain. She imagined herself walking over to the dead body, leaning down and ripping her sharp fangs into the dead man’s neck, lapping and sucking up all that remained of his blood hungrily. He was dead, so there shouldn’t be a problem with her feasting on what was left of him, right? It wasn’t like she was harming a living being. Involuntarily, she stepped forward, drawn to what lied waiting for her at the scene of the crime.

“Kyouko?” Her grandfather called out to her.

Suddenly, Kirigiri snapped free of her stupor. Her eyes focused on her grandfather, though the scent of blood still lingered in her mind. Oh god, what was she just thinking? The overpowering smell was driving her mad…! She had to get as far as she could from here before she lost her mind completely. 

“I’m feeling a bit hungry, I’m going to get a snack from the coffee shop nearby,” she told her grandfather. 

Fuhito furrowed his eyebrows. “All right, go ahead. I’ll wait for you,” he told her.

Kirigiri nodded. “’I’ll be back soon,” she informed him.

With that said, Kirigiri turned around and walked back in the direction they had come from. When she knew she was out of her grandfather’s sight, she began to flee as fast as she could, trying to escape the scent that had captured her mind. She went to the bus stop and boarded the first bus that came. It wouldn’t be long until her grandfather noticed that she wasn’t coming back, but she hoped that the next bus would take a while to come, so that he was forced to spend more time waiting for its arrival. 

Once the bus ride was over, Kirigiri made a mad dash for her house and shut herself inside her room, locking the door. She pressed herself against the wall, trying to catch her breath. What had just happened? 

There was a twinge of pain in her mouth. This time, it was coming from the roof of her mouth and not the back of her throat. It did not take long for the pain to suddenly erupt, causing Kirigiri to cover her mouth and wince. It was like someone had stabbed a thousand needles into the top of her mouth and dug the pointy ends deeply into her gums, pinching at her every nerve. She almost wanted to cry. Make it stop, she thought, please make it stop… 

Kirigiri gulped. Something was in her mouth, resting on her tongue amongst her own blood. She was surprised to find that the taste of her own blood was no longer metallically and unpleasant, but in fact rather sweet, like maple syrup without the stickiness. Cautiously, Kirigiri opened her mouth and pushed whatever she had on her tongue into her hand. Confused, she brought her hand down and opened up her palm. There, in her hand, were two of her own teeth, covered thickly in a layer of blood.

Shocked, Kirigiri dropped the teeth on the ground. Her tongue darted around her mouth, and swiftly discovered that two of her upper canine teeth had been replaced. Inside her mouth were two enormous fangs, sharp enough to cut her tongue when she attempted to inspect them.

Kirigiri closed her mouth, trying as hard as she could not to scream. The fangs were uncomfortable, and they felt disgusting pushed up against her lips, like there was no room for them to begin with. Feeling a sudden wave of nausea, she gagged. It felt so wrong, she wanted to make it stop. Her finger reached up to her mouth and traced both of her fangs, slitting her skin. The blood that seeped out, however, did not spark her thirst. Perhaps her own blood didn’t affect her. Kirigiri turned around, staring directly at the mirror that rested above her wardrobe. There, reflected back at her, were two, glowing red eyes, staring at her in place of her usual lilac colored ones. Gasping, she took a step back, her mouth slightly open, allowing her to see the fangs that were now hanging down from the top of her mouth. They were absolutely enormous, she instantly noticed. 

“I’m…” she whispered to herself, her eyes widening. “I’m a…”

She didn’t want to finish that sentence. Saying it out loud felt like it would be setting it in stone, even though she knew it was the truth. Her mouth clamped shut, and in despair, she sunk down to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Tears fell from her eyes, blotching her skirt. This wasn’t what she wanted! Why did this have to happen to her, she asked herself? Why had she followed those police officers to that woman’s house? Why did she have to be so foolish!? 

Her whole soul was filled with nothing but complete and utter despair.

For the next week that followed, Kirigiri kept herself in her room and ignored the thirst that was still lingering. She hadn’t eaten in at least a month, and her whole body was screaming out to be nourished with fresh blood, but she kept denying herself. She wasn’t a monster, not yet. She was only a monster when she finally gave into bloodlust. If she could continue to hold out like this, then she could cling onto what remained of her humanity, right?

But still, her body was crying out in protest. She felt weaker and weaker every day, to the point where it was hard to stand up anymore. Her vision was cloudy and spotted, and it was hard for her to think too coherently. She was withering away. Despite this, she still refused to go to the hospital. Her grandfather was extremely concerned about her condition and insisted on calling a doctor, but she turned him down every time. What would happen if the doctor were to see what she had become? She hadn’t known of the existence of such creatures until a month ago, and what if the doctor didn’t know either? He might not even know how to help her, and there was no way of knowing how to get in contact with someone who specialized in her condition. She had no choice but to sit here and suffer, while wishing away the pain. She couldn’t drink blood; she couldn’t accept that her fate was to become a monster.

Kirigiri gripped the sheets of her bed. It was becoming harder for her to breath, and her head felt like it was constantly spinning. Perhaps this was how she was going to die, she thought to herself. She wasn’t okay with that, but she also wasn’t okay with the alternative of feasting off of a living being’s blood. It was either that she would die a human or live as a monster, but she wanted neither of those things. 

Slowly, Kirigiri’s eyes began to close. She didn’t want this to be the end, but she had no more strength to protest. Why did it have to end like this, she thought to herself. Fate was so cruel…

“Kyouko!” her grandfather called out from the other side of the door. When she was unresponsive, he opened the door himself and walked up to the bed, horrified by the sight of his sickened granddaughter. “Kyouko, speak to me,” he asked her, but he did not get a response. Kirigiri was still conscious, but she hardly had the strength to talk right now. 

“I’m calling an ambulance,” he told her. 

“N-No!” Kirigiri suddenly shouted. Panic filled her. What would happen if a doctor found out what had happened to her?

As quickly as he could while ignoring her protests, Fuhito dialed the hospital and informed them of his granddaughter’s condition, describing as much as he knew to the person on the other side of the phone. It seemed as though the responder was questioning him on every little detail, much to his dismay. “Just send someone over as quickly as you can, I think her condition is critical,” he begged. The responder agreed and he hung up the phone.

“Don’t let them come here…” muttered Kirigiri. 

“Kyouko, you’re extremely sick!” he protested. “Enough is enough. I shouldn’t have let you get to this state in the first place.”

The ambulance came swiftly. Doctors burst into the room and flooded around her, lifting her from her bed and placing her on a stretcher. The whole time, Kirigiri was panicking, wondering what would happen to her at the hospital. They would surely find out the horrible truth about her, and then what…? What would her grandfather think? What if he left her too, just like her father…?

When she was placed in the ambulance, several doctors surrounded her, trying to get a good look at her and find out what was wrong. There was a lot of chattering amongst them, but she couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. Her mind was too much of a mess to focus on any one thread of discussion. One particular doctor, a man with dark hair, approached her and scanned her up and down with his eyes. After a few moments, he reached a finger out and pulled up her lip, revealing her gigantic fangs. “You poor young girl,” he told her gently. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

Kirigiri’s eyes widened. She jerked back, closing her mouth tightly. The man was staring into her eyes emphatically. So this man knew about those sorts of creatures, she thought to herself. Perhaps he would know how to treat her. Those were her last thoughts before the doctor pulled out a syringe full of a sedative and injected her, causing her to pass out instantly.

When Kirigiri regained consciousness, the first thing that she noticed was the overwhelming scent of blood that filled her nostrils. Her eyes shot wide open, glowing a deep red instead of their usual purple color. Her throat constricted and she breathed heavily, her body desiring to devour the blood and quench her thirst. In front of her was a nurse, holding out an open can filled with crimson blood. Coming to her senses, Kirigiri jerked backwards, nearly knocking the can out of the nurse’s hands. 

“Kyouko Kirigiri-san,” the nurse addressed her, showing her the can once more. “You need to drink it. Please.”

Kirigiri shook her head. “No!” she replied instantly. She wasn’t a vampire yet, she told herself, she still had time to be a human… Drinking this would seal her fate as a monster, and that was the last thing she wanted. She wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster, and she certainly wasn’t going to drink the blood of another being, even if they were dead. 

The nurse frowned. “You need to drink it, you’re suffering from malnourishment,” she informed the girl. “You’re going to die if you don’t, so please, don’t make this hard for me…”

“I’m not going to drink it,” she told the nurse adamantly. “I’m not a monster, I… I don’t drink blood.”

Sighing, the nurse left the room. Kirigiri used this as a time to look around at her surroundings. She was in a hospital; there was no doubt about it. She had been to the local hospital before, and she was sure this was it, but there was something peculiar. The room had absolutely no windows. All of the hospital rooms had windows, right? The room was covered in cabinets and medical equipment, including a monitor that was linked up to her, displaying her vitals. Her heart rate really was slow, wasn’t it? Was she really dying…?

She didn’t have long to observe the room, because the nurse came back with several other nurses and doctors. “We need to get her to drink the blood,” she told them. “But she’s refusing.”

“All right. Standard procedure, I suppose,” one of the doctors responded.

Suddenly, all of the medical workers crowded around her bed. One doctor grabbed onto her left arm and pinned it against the bed, while another one did the same to her right arm. In a panic, Kirigiri began to struggle, wiggling around and kicking at the air. Her hands reached up to the wrists of the doctors who were holding her down and she squeezed tightly, with all the strength that she could muster up. “Let go of me!” she shouted frantically. “Let go of me!” As she gripped tighter, she could hear the sounds of their wrists cracking under her newfound strength. 

“Hurry up!” shouted one of the doctors. “She’s practically breaking my wrist!”

A third doctor approached her, gripping a can of blood. He practically shoved it into her face and placed the opening to her mouth. Her throat was crying out to her mind to drink the blood, but she knew she couldn’t let herself. In a panic, Kirigiri kicked the doctor square in the stomach with her leg, causing him to drop the can and double over in pain, grumbling. A nurse retrieved another can from one of the cabinets and popped it open, filling the room with the scent of even more delicious, fresh blood. There was so much of it, and it was getting to Kirigiri’s head. She was so thirsty, so desperate… but her mind was still refusing, telling her that she couldn’t drink the blood or she would be a monster. She didn’t want to be a monster…!

The nurse placed the can in front of her nose, allowing the scent of the blood to fill her nostrils completely. Suddenly, something inside her snapped. She felt all the humanity she had left suddenly disappear in place of the pure, monstrous hunger that had been torturing her for weeks. She once again began to struggle, but this time, it wasn’t because she was refusing. Her mouth opened wide, showing off her glistening, sharp fangs to the doctors and nurses. The nurse gave a nod to the two doctors, and they let go of her hands. Swiftly, Kirigiri snatched the can of blood from the nurse’s hand and brought it to her mouth, swallowing a large gulp of the crimson liquid. Her red eyes widened as the delicious blood touched her tongue, soothing her thirst almost instantly. But it wasn’t enough… she needed more. Almost like a monster, she began sucking and slurping the rest of the blood out of the can, allowing the sweet taste to fill her senses. In that moment, nothing mattered to her but the deliciousness of the sweet, warm blood.

When she realized the can was empty, Kirigiri gripped it tightly, crushing the aluminum easily in the palm of her hand. She wasn’t satisfied yet. “More…” she growled, sounding like some sort of animal. “Please… I need more blood…”

The doctors complied, handing her another can, which she opened and began sucking down. She was still so thirsty, and the sweet taste was driving her mad. She needed more of it… more and more and more… 

By the time she had finished her second can, Kirigiri suddenly snapped out of her monstrous daze. She suddenly became extremely aware of the liquid that was dripping down her chin, and of her two fangs that were now stained scarlet. Her red eyes widening, Kirigiri dropped the can to the floor, shock filling her body. It was like she had become a monster…

“It’s all right,” one of the doctors reassured her. “You were really thirsty. You shouldn’t be afraid of yourself.”

The doctor turned to the others and nodded, indicating that they were free to go. Once they all left, the remaining doctor knelt down beside her and began to speak gently to her. “It’s only natural for young vampires to crave blood so desperately. You don’t know how to control yourself yet, so you shouldn’t feel badly. You only did what you needed to do survive. Without that blood, you would have died.”

Kirigiri listened carefully to these words, trying to drill it into her mind. Without the blood, she would have died… “I drank someone’s blood,” she whispered, feeling afraid of the sudden monstrous attitude she had just exhibited. 

“We only give animal blood to vampires,” the doctor reassured her. “We couldn’t possibly use human blood. That would be cruel.”

This information seemed to put Kirigiri at ease, but she still was unsure. Just the fact that she had feasted on blood, of all things, was making her feel tense. She hung her head in shame. “My grandfather… he’s going to hate me now,” she muttered. “You can’t let him know what happened to me, or else…”

“Your grandfather seemed like a very caring man,” the doctor remarked. “I’m sure he won’t mind, but it might be a bit of a shock. If anything, he’ll just be worried out of his mind for his poor granddaughter. I wouldn’t fret over it.” 

Kirigiri gripped the sheets of the bed. She was right, that seemed much more realistic. But after the incident with the man she had called her father, she couldn’t help but worry. “…I want to see him,” she told the doctor. “Where is he?”

“He’s in the waiting room. We can’t allow humans to come downstairs to this ward, at least not without permission from the head,” the doctor explained. 

That explained why there were no windows, at least. She was being kept at the basement level, which she assumed was supposed to be for vampires. “…Does that mean you’re a vampire too?” she asked the woman.

“Oh, no,” she responded quickly. “I’m a werewolf. This hospital ward is for all kinds of supernatural creatures.”

Kirigiri contemplated this. “Like what?’ she asked.

“Oh, I couldn’t list all the different species, but pretty much every monster and mystical creature you’ve heard of is real. Vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, angels, fairies, mermaids… All of that and even more,” the werewolf woman listed off. 

How interesting… and she hadn’t had a clue before this whole thing happened. People were very good at keeping the whole monster thing a secret, apparently. But never mind that for now. “I want to see my grandfather,” she informed the woman. “I know he’s a human, but I really want to see him. I can go to the lobby and talk to him…”

“You need to remain in bed and rest. You had blood, but you’re still malnourished. We’ll need to keep you here until you’re well fed and strong,” the doctor told her sternly. “We’ll contact the boss of this ward and see if we can allow your grandfather to come and talk to you. He’s usually not very strict when it comes to situations like yours.”

After thanking the werewolf woman, Kirigiri went back to resting while her grandfather was being contacted. She still felt funny about the whole situation, but she was slowly coming to terms with it. She darted her tongue up to the top of her mouth and licked her fangs, shivering at the strange feeling. “I’m not human anymore,” she whispered to herself under her breath, shifting beneath the blankets. She had given into her monstrous instincts, and she no longer deserved to be called human. But maybe there was still a chance. She just had to drink animal blood, right? She didn’t need to drink from a living human and hurt them in the same way that the woman who had bitten her had hurt her. If she only drank animal blood for the rest of her life, then she could still be human in a sense. Besides, vampires had been able to blend in with humans before, so why couldn’t she? Perhaps there was hope for her after all.

About thirty minutes later, the doctor came into the room with Fuhito by her side. Upon seeing the state of his granddaughter, a look of worry passed through his face. “Kyouko!” he called out to her, rushing to her side. 

Kirigiri smiled faintly. “Grandfather,” she greeted him.

“What happened to you, Kyouko?” he asked. “The doctors and nurses wouldn’t tell me anything when I asked them about it. I had to sit in the waiting room for hours without knowing anything, and they wouldn’t even let me come see you.”

The detective girl winced. Did this mean that the doctors had yet to inform her grandfather of her condition? Kirigiri looked at the nurse, concerned, but she just nodded, confirming her suspicions. Her grandfather didn’t know that she was a vampire. 

Kirigiri contemplated her options. It would be inconvenient for her caretaker not to know the truth. After all, she needed to remain in good health, and remaining with a human schedule would not help her. She had tried to hold this secret for the last month, and it had ended up with her in this hospital bed, nearly dead from malnutrition. The only issue was explaining this to her oblivious grandfather, who would surely be completely baffled if she straight up told him that she had been turned into a vampire. Perhaps she should just start from the beginning and confess the whole truth to him. 

“…I’m sorry, Grandfather. I lied to you,” Kirigiri confessed, hanging her head. “When we turned that woman in… I followed the policemen to her house.”

Fuhito looked shocked. “Kyouko? Why…?” he asked her, completely baffled. “Why would you do that?”

“I was stupid,” Kirigiri responded, feeling ashamed of herself. “I wanted to know if I was right, and… I just acted hastily. I shouldn’t have done it, I know…”

Her grandfather nodded. “It’s all right, Kyouko. But why are you telling me this now?” he inquired. 

Kirigiri looked into her grandfather’s kind eyes. He was such a wonderful man, and she knew she could trust him. He wasn’t like that man who dared to call himself her father. “Well, when I went to that woman’s house… I wasn’t intending to get close, but I was curious… I went into the hallway and, she killed both of those policemen right in front of me like it was nothing… She just grabbed them and snapped their neck with no effort,” she recalled. She winced at the memory of the second policeman’s dead body falling on top of her, pinning her to the ground. “It was like she wasn’t even human.”

Fuhito seemed rather alarmed at this description. “I see, go on,” he encouraged her.

The young vampire grimaced. “She caught me too, but she didn’t kill me,” she told him. “She told me that she wanted to reward me for finding her, so instead of killing on me, she bit me… on the neck.”

At this point, Kirigiri’s grandfather was just confused. He was a very bright man, but it was hard to put two and two together when it came to something like vampires, which to his knowledge were nothing but fiction. Kirigiri could not blame him for being unable to understand what had happened to his granddaughter, but she herself was having a hard time putting it into words to help him. “I… I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. “I’m a monster…”

“Kyouko?” he inquired, sensing something was horribly wrong. “What do you mean…?”

“…I’m really sorry, Grandfather… that woman really wasn’t human...” she confessed. “I know it sounds impossible, but it’s really true. You have to believe me.”

Fuhito took about a minute to register what she was saying and piece things together. With a very concerned look, he reached out to his granddaughter and placed a hand on her cheek gently. “Show me, Kyouko,” he asked her. 

Complying, Kirigiri opened up her mouth so that her grandfather could look at her fangs. Stunned, the old man stared at them. A look of shock passed over his face, which quickly turned into sorrow. “I see…” he commented.

Upon hearing that remark, Kirigiri closed her mouth again and looked into her grandfather’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Grandfather,” she apologized. “I’m a monster, and you probably hate me now…”

“No,” Fuhito responded quickly. “You’re not a monster, you’re my precious granddaughter, no matter what happens, and I definitely don’t hate you. It’s not your fault, all right?” he reassured the girl in a gentle, caring tone. His hand reached out to Kirigiri’s, as if telling her that he was still there for her. 

Tearing up, Kirigiri nodded. Her grandfather was so wonderful to her... she was foolish for thinking that he could ever hate her. He wasn’t like that man… he wouldn’t abandon her for selfish reasons. “Thank you,” she responded, smiling ever so slightly. 

After a brief moment of silence, the doctor spoke up. “Your granddaughter was suffering from malnourishment, and she still is. Her lifestyle is going to have to be completely different from now on. Are you her caretaker?” she asked Fuhito. “Or… Where are her parents?”

“She doesn’t have parents,” Fuhito replied instantly. “I’m her caretaker, she lives with me.”

Kirigiri felt relief wash over her. Her grandfather had no intention of contacting that man who had abandoned her about what had happened. Good, she thought to herself, he didn’t deserve to know that his own child had been turned into a vampire. 

“Then come here, let me fill you in on what you need to know,” the doctor told him.

That had signified the start of her very strange life as a vampire. After getting over her malnutrition, she struggled to adjust to everyday life. She had done exactly as she had planned and never drunken blood from a human being or a living creature, and to this day, Kirigiri had yet to use her fangs. There had been some oddities, like attempting to retain the usual sleep schedule of being awake during the day despite the harsh sunlight, but her grandfather had been a huge help to her. He had even gone out of his way and obtained a rare jewel which, while enchanted by a witch, would allow Kirigiri to remain outside without harm. Though that gem was no longer as powerful, it still worked well enough to let her go outside without dying, so long as she had an umbrella and proper outerwear. As he had promised, he never once bothered to tell Jin Kirigiri about what had happened to her.

It wasn’t until about two years later when Kirigiri discovered the secret of Hope’s Peak Academy, the academy that her father had abandoned her for. It was during a session with her school counselor discussing options for monster schools that she had been informed that Hope’s Peak Academy was, in fact, a school for monsters. Knowing that the man who had dared call himself her father had been aware of the existence of vampires and other creatures and had not warned her or his own father filled her with rage. So, she came up with a plan. She would attend Hope’s Peak Academy as the Super High School Level Detective and confront her father. 

In order to be accepted into that school, she had to flaunt her abilities as a detective to the media. She made herself a name and showed off the many, complex cases that she had managed to crack. She had the ability to become a Super High School Level; it was only a matter of attracting the admissions department. 

After graduating middle school, she had received her letter of admissions from Hope’s Peak Academy, requesting that she enroll with the title of Super High School Level Detective. She, of course, accepted right away. 

She would never forget the day that she saw her father again after so many years of hating him for leaving her. It was during her tour of Hope’s Peak Academy prior to the start of the year that she encountered him again. She had been wandering down the hallways, observing the place that was going to become her school, when they ran into each other. 

“Kyouko…?” Jin asked, observing his daughter in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Kirigiri frowned, clenching her fists tightly into balls. She hated this man with every fiber of her being, but she had to contain herself. “Good evening, headmaster,” she greeted him calmly, without a hint of emotion in her tone. “I’m touring the school, is there a problem with that?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he warned. “This isn’t a place for you.”

Kirigiri couldn’t help but be amused by how little her father knew of her. “So, headmaster,” she addressed him, refusing to call him her father. “Is this what you left me for? Hope’s Peak Academy for Monsters…” She crossed her arms, trying hard to look completely stoical. “I suppose it must have been worth it, you are the headmaster of the place, after all.”

With a sigh, Jin frowned. “Kyouko—“

“—Excuse me, I’m one of your students, you should call me Kirigiri-san,” the vampire interrupted. “From now on, I’m attending this academy as the Super High School Level Detective. Didn’t the admissions department tell you that?”

The headmaster fell completely silent. He scanned his daughter up and down, a look of horror spreading over his face. “What happened to you?” he asked. 

“A lot about me has changed in the last few years, headmaster,” Kirigiri informed him. From his scent, she could tell that the same could not be said about him. That man was still a human.

“…No one told me about this!” he responded frantically. “Kyouko, who did this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she retorted. “You have nothing to do with it, course no one would tell you about what happened. But if you had warned me beforehand about the supernatural, then maybe I wouldn’t have been so careless with my humanity.” She was trying to be as passive aggressive as possible, but she figured that last line might have just been downright aggressive. Even so, she was getting the point across. “But it’s too late to be worrying about things like that now, I had come to terms with the reality of my situation years ago.”

Jin looked absolutely devastated. “This isn’t what I wanted for you, Kyouko,” he told her, hints of despair in his voice.

Now that made Kirigiri angry. She narrowed her eyes. “What you wanted for me? You aren’t my father, you forfeited that right the day you left me to become the headmaster of this school,” she spat. “You have no right to choose what happens to me. And if you’re upset that I became one of those monsters that you teach, then you’re just as much to blame as the vampire who attacked me.”

The headmaster’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“If you’ll excuse me then, headmaster, I was in the middle of touring my new high school,” she dismissed. She ended the conversation with a nod and then turned on her heel and briskly left, leaving behind the extremely devastated headmaster. She felt a weight lift off of her shoulders, and the satisfaction of finally confronting the man responsible for ruining her adolescent life filled her. Perhaps now she would really enjoy her life at this school.

…

Kirigiri sighed, standing up from her bed. She observed herself in the mirror, gazing up and down at every last feature. Naegi had told her that she seemed human to him, but when she looked at herself, all she could see was a vampire. Sure, she had never drunken the blood of a human before and she lived on a normal sleep schedule, but she was still a vampire, and no amount of denying that would change her back. 

Suddenly, the topic of her thoughts shifted. Naegi… that human boy was so innocent to the horrors of the world. He was so sweet, so kind to her… 

She thought back to what Jin Kirigiri had said to her on that day. This isn’t what I wanted for you, he had told her. He hadn’t wanted the life of a monster for his own daughter, but he had done nothing to prevent it from happening. Now that she was some sort of monster, it felt as though that man didn’t trust her anymore. He had proven that just the other day, when he questioned her about the possibility of her drinking Naegi’s blood and transforming him. It was true that she was living unnaturally for a vampire. Vampires were supposed to drink human blood, as it was more nutritious and sustaining, but she still refused. Living off of the blood of dead animals was a stretch and an almost impossible feat for most vampires. Was that why Jin was suspicious of her? Did he truly think that one day, she would give into that side of her and devour Naegi like he was just her dinner...? 

Kirigiri looked at the clock. She had about fifteen minutes until class started. After collecting her supplies, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and exited the dorm room, heading straight for the classroom on the second floor. She was a little early, so not many people were there in the classroom, except…

“Kirigiri-san!” Naegi cried, smiling brightly when he caught sight of her. The human boy leapt out of his seat and dashed towards her, eager to greet her. “Good morning, Kirigiri-san! Did you sleep well?”

The vampire couldn’t help but smile. “I did. Thank you, Naegi-kun,” she replied.

“That’s good to hear!” he responded enthusiastically. “I know it’s a bit difficult for you to sleep like a normal human, but you seem to be managing it pretty well.”

“Thank you. I lived as a human for eleven years, so it’s natural I’m good at it,” she reminded him. 

Naegi smiled. “Of course!” he shouted. “Anyway, class is going to start soon, so I figured I’d set up a bit early before all the chaos started. This morning in the cafeteria, Fukawa-san tried to possess Celes-san to get closer to Togami-kun. Ishimaru-kun had to come and perform and exorcism. It was a bit of a mess. I never knew things could be so crazy, but I guess that’s natural for a school for supernatural creatures. It’s such a strange world, I had never imagined anything like it.”

After listening to the boy ramble for a few minutes, Kirigiri felt a lot better. Makoto Naegi was a kindhearted boy, and she adored that. She had made a promise to protect him from any danger at this academy, and she planned to fulfill that promise no matter what. He was just a human, and that was all that she ever wanted for him. 

She would never let him become a monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. I couldn't find a good place to put a break and divide it in half again, so here it is, around 9000 words of Kirigiri. 
> 
> I'm exhausted. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and sticking it through until now. There will be lots of Naegiri in the coming chapters, I hope, as well as a lot more Ikusaba. These chapters have been primarily Naegiri centric so I apologize that I haven't gotten to Naekusaba yet. But we'll get there. (Not to mention I'm in a huge Naegiri phase right now... I like both, but I switch which one I like more. You can tell where in Pokeronpa I fell into a huge Naekusaba phase. Speaking of Pokeronpa, that's coming soon, I definitely will not abandon it). If you spot any major errors its because I am exhausted from writing such a monstrously huge chapter. 
> 
> Hopefully we'll have normal sized chapters from now on.


	7. Field Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dead tired and I don't know what to say.
> 
> These next chapters will take place on a field trip to Jabberwock Island! This will be a mix of fun monster stuff and some plot related events so look forward to it. Hope you enjoy.

A field trip to the beach, at first, did not seem like it would be a good idea for an academy full of supernatural creatures. That’s what Naegi thought to himself, anyway, when the teachers announced that they would be taking him and the other fifteen students on an overnight trip to a beach on a resort island known as Jabberwock Island. Apparently, the school had some connections with the person who owned that particular resort, and they allowed the freshman class to visit every year during a private reservation session, mostly to retain the secrecy of the true identity of the academy.

After doing some research into the island, he found out that Jabberwock Island was in fact composed of several different islands, though for the purposes of the school trip, most were off limits to them. The main purpose was just to hang out at the beach, after all, so the school didn’t need to reserve the other islands. However, the island was known for its incredibly hot weather and sun, which made him a bit uneasy. Weren’t many of the creatures in Hope’s Peak Academy nocturnal…?

As it turned out, however, this was not an issue.

“That plane ride was shorter than I expected!” Asahina exclaimed after hopping off the private jet, stretching her limbs. “Thank god, I was beginning to get all cramped up! Sitting for long periods of time just isn’t my thing.”

“Short?” grumbled Kuwata as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. It appeared as though he had been attempting to sleep to no avail. “I felt like I was in there for hours! And man, I hate airplanes. It’s impossible to nap on them. The damn engines are fucking loud.”

Naegi had to agree with this. He wasn’t exactly a huge fan of airplanes, though he had nothing against them. It was just that with long trips, no one ever got enough sleep. Airplanes just weren’t comfortable enough for a good night’s sleep. But oh well, all that was over now. Everyone was now located in the airport lobby, chatting to one another and collecting their luggage. From the enormous window, Naegi could see the bright blue sky, and a small vent let in the scent of the ocean.

“All right, class!” Jin Kirigiri shouted out, gaining the attention of all the monsters as well as Naegi. “You’ll be assigned to a room in the motel and given a key. This island has been rented to only us, so you won’t find any humans around—aside from Naegi-kun and myself here, so you don’t have to hide yourselves.”

A relieved sigh came from Ishimaru, who had been keeping his wings hidden from sight. He clapped his hands together and with a burst of light, his large, fluffy wings reappeared behind him. The Super High School Level Hall Monitor was always very proud of his wings, so Naegi figured having to keep them hidden wasn’t something he enjoyed very much. After seeing Ishimaru, Enoshima followed suit and regained her own wings.

“I don’t need to remind all of you to remain on your best behavior, now do I?” the headmaster spoke out, eyeing his students. “Either way, we’ll be having some free time periods as well as mandatory activities, so you are all expected to participate.”

“I-I bet it’s some stupid attempt to make us ‘bond’ or w-whatever,” Fukawa muttered to herself, looking away.

Jin Kirigiri frowned. “Well, yes, that’s the point of this trip, Fukawa-san,” he informed her. “We take the freshman class here every year so that they can get to know each other better and form friendships. It paves the way for a future of success at Hope’s Peak Academy.”

Many of the kids, such as Togami and Celestia, seemed disinterested in this goal. On the other hand, Naegi was rather excited. It was a bit annoying to be forced to participate in some activities, but he did want to get to know some of his classmates better. It had been a month since had come here, but he still only knew little bits about them, even Kirigiri, who he was closest to out of all the other classmates. 

“…That being said, please follow me. We’re going to go to the motel’s lobby to get the keys and cabin assignments,” Jin declared.

All the students picked up their luggage and began to move when Jin Kirigiri made for the airport’s exit. Naegi did the same, but before following the headmaster, he did a small glance around at the other students. He spotted Kirigiri standing there with Maizono, holding out a small red gem embedded in metal in the palm of her gloved hand. The Super High School Level Idol was whispering something under her breath while holding her witch’s wand out towards the gem, causing it to glow with some strange power. 

“Thank you, Maizono-san,” Kirigiri thanked before hooking the embedded gem on a string hanging from her neck. She gestured to the window, where the bright sun was beaming through. “I know you’re not perfect at this spell yet, especially since it’s so bright outside.”

“I’ll keep practicing!” Maizono told her, determination in her voice. “It’s probably inconvenient for you to have to wear those clothes, so I want to help in any way I can.”

Naegi glanced up and down Kirigiri. She was indeed wearing a different set of clothing than she usually did. She was currently donning a very long, dark purple trench coat that covered most of her body, as well as stockings that concealed any skin on her legs. A set of sunglasses was positioned above her forehead, which she quickly knocked down and placed on her eyes. She then retrieved a black parasol that she had set at her side and opened it, covering her body in shade. Naegi had heard of the myth about vampires not being able to walk in sunlight, and it seemed as though it was partially true. He had seen Kirigiri outside before, but never without that necklace or her parasol. The trench coat and sunglasses, however, were new to him, perhaps because the sun was particularly bright on this island.

After observing that exchange, Naegi followed Jin outside. The moment the human boy stepped a foot into the harsh sunlight, he realized just how absurdly bright it was. Concerned, he looked back at Kirigiri, who was covering herself completely with the shade of her parasol and adjusting her sunglasses. Her face was tilted slightly downwards, so even though it was hard to really tell, Naegi assumed that her vision was focused on the ground, away from the sun. But if she was looking at the ground as she walked… what if she tripped?

Worried, Naegi stepped over to her. “Kirigiri-san, do you need help?” he asked, the concern in his voice evident. “It’s really bright out, and I don’t want you to trip if you’re going to be staring at the ground.” Naegi stuck out one of his hands, offering it to the vampire. “You should hold my hand, I can lead the way for you!”

A small, amused smile spread across Kirigiri’s face. “Thank you, Naegi-kun,” she responded, taking his hand with her free one. “I’ll leave it to you to lead the way, then.”

Naegi gripped the vampire’s gloved hand in his and began to move forwards, keeping a close eye on Kirigiri. He had to admit he felt a little embarrassed holding a girl’s hand like this… it felt almost… romantic? No, he thought to himself, that wasn’t right! Kirigiri was a good friend of his, and he should not be having these sorts of thoughts about her. Right now, he needed to concentrate so that she wouldn’t fall. He carefully led the girl through the island, occasionally looking back to make sure that she was okay, but it was impossible to tell what she was thinking when her eyes were concealed. Was she really okay with him doing this?

In the end, his mission was a success. The two of them managed to get inside the motel lobby without having her trip. Now that she was inside, Kirigiri removed her sunglasses and gave him a small, thankful smile. “That was very kind of you, Naegi-kun. Thank you,” he told her, her voice sincere. “I may have bumped into a tree if I hadn’t been careful.”

Naegi smiled gently. It was rather uncommon to see Kirigiri give a genuine smile, and whenever she did, he couldn’t help but smile too. “You’re welcome!” he responded.

Shortly after, Jin Kirigiri interrupted. “All right, everyone. This is Watanabe-san, the owner of this motel,” he introduced, gesturing to the man who was behind the front desk, who was grinning kindly. “He’s a very old friend of mine, and he very graciously allows the freshman class to come stay for a few days every year.”

Watanabe, a man who looked to be around Jin’s age aside from the fact that he was freakishly tall, stood up and bowed to the class. “Thank you for that introduction, Kirigiri,” he responded, nodding towards the headmaster. “I have been the owner of Jabberwock Island for quite some time now. While we have many facilities, some are currently closed for construction, so I will have to ask you all to obey the rules and not enter restricted areas. However, this should not interrupt what Headmaster Kirigiri has planned for you.” There was a brief pause as the man considered his words. “These grounds are safe for both humans and supernatural creatures. Even though the amount of humans here right now is minimal, we ask that you behave yourself and not act like, well, monsters.”

The man sat back down in his chair. He was freakishly tall, Naegi observed… probably around eight or nine feet, if the boy had to guess. Perhaps he was some kind of “giant” or something of the like. 

“Anyway, please come one by one and retrieve your cabin key. The number is written on the keychain, and make sure not to lose it. We have spares, but you will be fined,” he informed all of the students.

There was a miniature rush to form a line, and Naegi ended up near the end. Just his luck, he thought to himself, but he supposed that it wouldn’t take too long for the people in front of them to get their keys.

“…Oh, yes,” Jin spoke up. “After you get your room key and settle into your rooms, please meet up at the beach for our first activity, wearing your bathing suit. If you forgot to pack one, the beach house should have some to borrow. …Also, Naegi-kun, Ikusaba-san, come see me after you’ve gotten your keys.”

Naegi looked puzzled. What did the headmaster want with him? The human looked behind him to find Ikusaba standing there, also a bit confused. Had he done something wrong, or did he just want to chat with him? Did he call Ikusaba over for a separate reason, or did this involve the both of them? Naegi couldn’t imagine that he was in trouble, and certainly not with Ikusaba. He had only chatted to her once or so, and it wasn’t like they had been discussing anything troubling.

Once the boy had obtained his cabin key, he approached the headmaster, who gestured to the couches. Guessing it meant to take a seat, Naegi plopped himself down on a rather comfy looking couch and leaned back into the pillows, wondering what the headmaster could possibly want with him.

Shortly after that, Ikusaba showed up and he told her to do the same. The werewolf girl looked rather cautious, and she did not sit on the same couch as him, instead positioning herself on the couch opposite him. She glanced at the wall, refusing to meet his gaze. Perhaps she’s just a bit nervous, Naegi thought. There was no chance that she was trying to be rude, she was just a distant person who probably was uncomfortable with direct eye contact.

Jin Kirigiri cleared his throat. “I’d like to reiterate what Watanabe-san said,” he began. “This island is a safe space for both the supernatural and for humans, and while most of the inhabitants right now are not human, we don’t want the students here to behave like monsters. However, I can’t guarantee you that we will be immune from such things.” He looked directly at Naegi, giving him a frown. “While I believe it’s highly unlikely anything should happen to you, Naegi-kun, I believe there is an increased chance on this field trip. I brought with me a member of security at the school in case something should happen, and there are a few people on the Jabberwock Island staff that should assist you. However, they can’t always be with you.”

Naegi tilted his head. Was Jin really concerned for his safety on this field trip? He didn’t think that he was in any sort of trouble.

“Which is why I’m officially assigning Ikusaba-san to watch out for you from now on,” Jin declared. “Not just on this field trip, but back at school as well.”

Ikusaba looked up, surprised. “…Why me?” she questioned.

“You’re a trained soldier, it’s your Super High School Level Talent. Think of it as part of your assignment. We’re a school meant for harvesting the talents of youth, and you were accepted for your abilities, which means we expect you to be able to utilize them,” the headmaster explained, looking at the girl. “That also being said, you are… how should I put this, a more tame member of the class. It said on your student profile that you, as a former member of Fenrir Mercenary Corps, are able to control your werewolf powers completely, meaning I fully trust that you would never cause harm to Naegi-kun and that an accident is completely impossible.”

“…That’s true,” Ikusaba admitted. 

Naegi hesitated. “Wait, what are you saying?” he asked. “Are you saying that Ikusaba-san is going to be my bodyguard?”

“You can think of it as that,” Jin replied.

The human boy frowned. It wasn’t that he was unhappy with Ikusaba, but the whole situation did not settle right with him. “I trust everyone here,” he reiterated. “I don’t think it’s necessary to bother Ikusaba-san with this. No one is going to hurt me.”

Jin, however, did not look convinced.

“…Headmaster, forgive me for asking, but is there a particular student that you’re concerned about? I’ve seen Naegi-kun interact with the others, but I don’t think any of them are hostile towards him,” she insisted. 

The headmaster fell quiet. He did not respond.

“…There is, then,” the werewolf girl concluded. “…If you really think there’s a threat, I… I suppose I’ll help… if it’s a part of my assignment.”

“It is, you don’t have a choice,” the headmaster told her sternly. “Rejecting was not an option to begin with.”

Naegi gulped. He felt sort of sorry for Ikusaba. Why was the headmaster putting her in this position? It seemed absolutely unnecessary to him. No one was going to hurt him, that was something he was sure of. Besides, Kirigiri had already told her father that she was intending to protect him from any danger, so why did the headmaster feel the need to assign Ikusaba to him now? Again, not that he was upset about being with her. Ikusaba was a nice person that Naegi wished to know better, but it just seemed strange. 

“You two are dismissed,” Jin told both of them. “Get your things to your cabins as soon as possible and meet with the others on the beach.”

Ikusaba instantly stood up and walked away briskly, not even bothering to address Naegi. Confused, the human boy watched as she walked away. Maybe she wasn’t happy about this new assignment?

Sighing, Naegi went off to his motel cabin and dropped his bags on the floor. The rooms were very nice, unlike most motels. There seemed to be a stereotype about motels being dirty and cheap, but these were quite well kept and modern. The rooms came each with a large, fluffy bed, a television, a couch, a table, a wardrobe, and a bathroom equipped with a pristine shower. Sitting himself down on the couch, Naegi flipped through the TV channels and found that they had full access to every channel. On top of the table was a pamphlet with a map of Jabberwock Island, describing each island. It appeared right now that they only had access to the first, second, and third island, while the other two were closed for renovations. A real shame, Naegi thought to himself. The fourth island had an amusement park, which would have been fun, even if that wasn’t really his thing. The islands they did have access too, however, were full of attractions and endless entertainment. This was going to be a fun field trip, and Jin was wrong to be worried about him. 

Realizing that he was probably delaying everyone else, Naegi put the pamphlet down on the table, changed into his swim trunks, and hurried off to the beach. It took him quite a bit to figure out which beach everyone else was on, seeing as there were quite a few beaches, but it turned out that the headmaster had been referring to the designated swimming area on the second island. By the time he had got here, most everyone else was already waiting, save for a few even slower students.

“We’re missing Hagakure-kun, Fukawa-kun, and Yamada-kun!” Ishimaru shouted, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

Suddenly, Hagakure materialized right next to the Hall Monitor. “Oh, sorry, I forgot I was invisible!” he cried out, laughing a bit to himself. “Being a ghost sure is weird!”

With a sigh, Oowada shook his head. “Figures,” he muttered under his breath.

Displeased, Ishimaru gave the group another look around. “Celes-kun, you are not wearing a swimsuit!” he noticed, pointing a finger at the shinigami, who was wearing her usual gothic getup. “And Kuwata-kun, that swimsuit is inappropriate!”

Kuwata, who was wearing a swimsuit that as just a bit too revealing, frowned. “Dude, I already told you that I’m an Incubus! I have to dress up like this, it’s a part of my job! I’m not going to get laid if I don’t show off a bit, and I haven’t even gotten one soul yet! My boss is really pissed.”

“No one is ‘getting laid’ on this field trip!” Ishimaru shouted. “Go change into another swimsuit!”

Grumbling to himself, Kuwata left and went off to retrieve another, more appropriate swimsuit. He returned shortly after, at the same time Fukawa happened to show up.

“Fukawa-kun, you are also not wearing a swimsuit! That makes four of you!” Ishimaru noticed, his voice sounding alarmed. “Kirigiri-kun has an excuse because of her species limitations, and I believe Fujisaki-kun explained that she has some as well, but you have no reason!”

Celestia put on one of her sweet smiles, clasping her hands together. “I’d rather die than get my body covered in salt water. Besides, I have a lot of work to do. Isn’t that right, Togami-kun?” The shinigami glanced over to her coworker, who had dressed himself up for swimming, unlike her.

“That’s true, but I don’t mind taking a break for a bit,” he responded.

Fukawa’s eyes trailed up and down Togami’s body, smirking a bit to herself with a red face. Pretty much everyone in the class, especially Naegi, who had firsthand witnessed her try to possess Celestia, knew of her obsessive crush on the Super High School Level Heir. Togami gave her a firm glare. “Get any closer, and I’ll spray you with the holy water again,” he warned her.

Fukawa’s eyes shot open and she quickly backed away from him, moving to sit under a tree. 

“That’s dangerous, Togami-kun!” Ishimaru interjected. “She may be a demon, but it is not nice to use holy water! It could seriously hurt her!”

“I don’t care,” he responded instantly. “I don’t like having a demon stalker.”

“I’m not a demon!” Fukawa called out to them. “I’m a human!”

Togami just rolled his eyes in response to this, not even bothering to argue against her. No matter what anyone would say to Fukawa, she would always deny that she was a demon, even though it was extremely obvious she was. Hell, Naegi had even seen her possess someone!

Shortly after, the last student arrived. Yamada came dashing onto the beach, holding out a tray of tropical drinks. “I brought you refreshments, Miss Celestia Ludenberg!” the satyr cried out. He held the tray out in front of the shinigami’s face, grinning proudly.

Celes frowned and looked at the refreshments. “They’re not really my thing,” she replied. “I thought I asked for tea?”

“Well, yes, but they were out, and these drinks have alcohol in them!” Yamada informed her, puffing his chest out. “Every good satyr knows that alcholoic drinks are the best, especially wine! But er, they didn’t exactly have wine, so I had to make several compromises.” 

Ishimaru once again looked disturbed. “Get rid of those at once, Yamada-kun!” he cried out. “No one here is allowed to drink except for Hagakure-kun!”

“Oh, in that case, I’ll have one!” Hagakure shouted. “Thank you, Yamada-chi!”

Yamada offered a drink to Hagakure and then scurried to put the rest of them down on the sand. Now, the entire class was gathered. It was time for them to begin.

“Er… A-Are most of these bonding activities going to involve swimming?” Fujisaki asked timidly. “Because um, it’s not very good for me to get salt water in my system… B-But I don’t want to be excluded from many of activities…”

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to be doing activities right away,” Jin Kirigiri assured the dryad. “We’re just going to start by getting settled on the beach, then we’ll begin. But yes, Fujisaki-san, there will be some activities involving swimming, but we are also going to play some games on the beach as well.”

Fujisaki smiled, a look of relief washing over her face. “Thank goodness!” she exclaimed. “I was afraid I was going to get left out!”

“That being said, let’s begin our field trip now officially!” Jin Kirigiri declared. “Remember the rules and have fun!”

With a cheer from the classmates, everyone went off to mess around on the beach. Asahina, despite being a fresh water naiad, went straight for the water, diving in as if it were her home. Oogami, being her best friend, decided to join her and take a little swim for herself. Meanwhile, Ishimaru was standing there, watching the waves and contemplating whether or not he wanted to take a swim. Naegi too was wondering the same thing. It was sort of hot, so perhaps a swim would be nice, but he wasn’t entirely sure he had the strength for it. Besides, he had been awake for quite a while, seeing as he couldn’t get any sleep on the plane ride. Perhaps he should just take a look around and see what everyone else is doing, he thought. 

“All right, Mukuro, fetch!” Enoshima shouted, throwing a tennis ball across the beach. 

Mukuro watched as the ball flew into the air and landed far away on the sand with a soft plop, but did absolutely nothing. She blinked, staring at her sister. “I’m not a dog,” she insisted. 

“You basically are, though,” Enoshima remarked, sighing. “Besides, it was just a joke! Geez, play along for once, will you! You’re so serious.”

“Oh, sorry,” she replied. “I didn’t realize.”

The angel flipped one of her twin tails, frowning. “I’m going to go hang out with someone else since you’re boring me. Why don’t you spend some time and try to make friends? You don’t even have a single friend and it’s already been a month since we came here!” Enoshima scolded. “Well, whatever, you figure it out. I’m going.”

With that, the angel girl left, leaving behind her rather confused older sister. Ikusaba looked around, completely lost.

Naegi couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl. She really was a loner, wasn’t she? Maybe Enoshima didn’t mean to be so harsh, but he could tell Ikusaba was probably hurt. His mind made up, Naegi approached the werewolf, giving her a small smile. “Hello, Ikusaba-san!” he greeted.

Ikusaba blinked, staring at him. “Hello,” she responded.

The human boy hesitated for a moment. What was he supposed to talk to her about? After that strange job that the headmaster had assigned to him, she was supposed to be his bodyguard or something now, right? But was she really okay with something like that? She had walked away before without even saying anything to him. “So, about earlier… “ he began, feeling sort of awkward about bringing it up. “Um, I don’t think you have to worry about me getting hurt. I know it’s an assignment, but I’m really not in any danger, so you don’t really need to take it too seriously.”

The werewolf shifted. She seemed to be a bit uncomfortable talking about this particular topic. “…The headmaster wanted me to help you,” she replied simply. “He seemed to think that there was a student planning to hurt you.”

“That’s just nonsense, though!” he insisted. “Really, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Ikusaba did not seem to be sure what to say. “…All right. But I still need to keep an eye on you,” she told him. “For the sake of utilizing my talent. The administration wants to study all the talents of the students, and this is the best way to study mine. It’s not like they have much of a way to make use of soldiers.”

Well, that was true, but she had still been accepted to Hope’s Peak. She was enormously talented, after all. Come to think of it, he had a lot of questions about her talent, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to ask them. It might be rude, he figured. She had mentioned that Fenrir was a pack of werewolf mercenaries, but what exactly did they do? 

“…Why don’t you go talk to your friend?” Ikusaba asked, gesturing towards Kirigiri. “She looks lonely.”

Naegi looked over to where the werewolf was pointing. Kirigiri was sitting in the shade of a giant palm tree, her back rested against the trunk. Her parasol was placed at her side and her sunglasses were on, so it was impossible to tell what kind of expression she had. Still, Naegi figured she probably wasn’t exactly pleased to be out in this sort of weather. It must be unpleasant for a vampire. But more importantly, was Ikusaba attempting to dismiss him? Frowning, he looked back at the werewolf girl. Maybe she really did just not like him. “I mean, I guess I could, but you looked like you needed someone to talk to as well,” he told her. 

Ikusaba stiffened. “I’m fine. I’m going to go for a swim,” she told him. “I’ll see you later.” Without another word, she turned and left for the ocean. 

Naegi blinked in confusion. What was up with her…? “Maybe she just doesn’t like me,” he muttered to himself. Even so, she was now his bodyguard, so she would have to remain by his side.

…But why did Jin Kirigiri think he needed a bodyguard in the first place? He wasn’t in any danger, as far as he was aware. He had mentioned that he had thought a certain student might be a threat to him, but looking around the beach, Naegi couldn’t figure out who the headmaster was concerned about. Oowada was sitting in the sand, building a giant sandcastle, while Ishimaru watched on in amazement. Fujisaki was far away from the water, talking to the tropical flowers that were resting near the palm trees Kirigiri was relaxing under. Celestia was also away from the water, filling out some work forms with Togami while sipping some tea Yamada had managed to find for her after a long while of searching. They were all people who Naegi could trust. 

Confused, Naegi let out a small sigh. It was nothing to worry about, he supposed. Jin Kirigiri was just wrong about his worries. He was completely safe here.

His mind made up on what to do, Naegi walked towards Kirigiri and took a seat next to her, just like Ikusaba had suggested. She did, in fact, seem rather bored, but that was to be expected of a vampire stuck on a tropical beach.

“Aren’t you going to swim with the others?” Kirigiri asked.

“I don’t really feel like it, I’m tired. I didn’t get enough sleep on that plane,” he informed her, leaning back and allowing himself to fall onto the soft sand. 

Frowning, the vampire turned and observed him. “You seem concerned about something,” she remarked. “Did something happen?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine!” he insisted. The last thing he wanted was for Kirigiri to worry about him. “Again, I’m just tired.”

“So am I,” Kirigiri agreed. “I may have this charm, but the sunlight is sapping the energy out of me. I hope I don’t have to stay here for much longer.”

Naegi glanced up at the necklace the girl was wearing around her neck. “Oh, yeah, I saw Maizono-san putting some sort of spell on it,” he recalled. “You wear it all the time whenever you go outside. Is it some sort of protection charm?”

“It’s a bloodstone,” the vampire told him. “When imbued with a special spell, it allows vampires to withstand the sun. They’re really rare. My grandfather somehow managed to get one for me after I became a vampire. Unfortunately, most of its power has run out, so Maizono-san has been helping me. She’s not perfect at the spell, so I still have to wear these clothes. It’s better than being sunburnt to death, though.” She sighed and adjusted herself. “I think the headmaster thinks it has more power than it does. He doesn’t really know me that well.”

Naegi frowned. It did seem as though she was at odds with her father, but did he really not know her that well? He should at least understand how difficult this situation was for her. 

“That man pretends to be my father, it’s really disgusting,” rambled Kirigiri. “Yet he doesn’t really understand me at all. He knows nothing about who I am. I can’t believe he expects me to be just like the Kyouko Kirigiri he knew years ago. I’m not a little human girl anymore.”

The human boy wasn’t sure what to say to this. “I’m sorry, Kirigiri-san. That seems tough,” he remarked. “Um, were you guys out of contact for a while?”

“I hadn’t seen him for several years until I enrolled here,” the Super High School Level Detective told him. “Who knew that man was running a high school for monsters, all while keeping me in the dark about it? He didn’t even tell me that supernatural creatures existed.”

It certainly made sense now why she was angry with him. Naegi couldn’t blame Kirigiri for resenting her father. 

“…The headmaster thinks I’m in danger,” Naegi suddenly blurted out. “He told me that he thought a student was trying to hurt me.”

Kirigiri sat up straight. “What?” she responded.

“He told me that today,” Naegi elaborated, recalling the conversation he had previously. “He thought that I was going to be particularly vulnerable during the field trip, but… that’s ridiculous, right? I don’t think anyone here is going to hurt me.”

The vampire clenched her hands into tight fists. “Does he really think that?” she asked. 

Naegi nodded. “I think he’s wrong, though. Everyone here has been really nice to me, even though I’m a human. I don’t think I’m in any danger at all,” he told her, gazing at the students on the beach. They all looked like they were having so much fun. Really, aside from all weird powers some of them had, they were just like normal high school students. “I trust everyone here.” He turned towards Kirigiri, giving her a warm smile. “I wouldn’t really worry about it, I guess. I just had to tell someone else about it.”

Kirigiri muttered something under her breath and then let out a sigh. “It’s absolutely fine. No one here is going to hurt you,” she assured her. “I already promised that I was going to protect you, remember?” The girl turned to meet his gaze, though it was rather hard considering that she was wearing thick sunglasses. Pulling her sunglasses up a little so that he could see her lilac eyes, she smiled. “I intend on keeping that promise no matter what. If there really is any danger, I won’t stand for it. You’re my friend, after all.”

“Of course!” Naegi responded, a grin spreading across his face. “You’re my friend too, Kirigiri-san! I trust in you to keep me safe!” The boy stuck his hand out, offering her his small pinky finger. “Let’s promise to keep each other safe, all right?”

Confused, Kirigiri glanced down at his finger. “What are you doing?” she asked. 

“It’s a pinky promise. Have you ever made one of those before?” he asked.

“No, can’t say I have,” Kirigiri responded.

“A pinky promise is like a promise, but it’s strong. We shake pinkies and we promise that we’re going to protect each other, no matter what. That way, we know neither of us are going to go back on it,” he explained to her, still holding his pinky finger out.

“No, I know what it is, I was just surprised,” she responded. “No one has ever offered to make me one.”

Naegi smiled. “Well, let’s make a pinky promise now!” he exclaimed. 

The vampire reached her pinky finger out to his, hooking them together. “I promise to protect you, Naegi-kun. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” she told him firmly.

Shaking her pinky, Naegi nodded. “And I promise to protect you too, Kirigiri-san! I know I’m just a human, but I want to do my best to help you, so if there’s anything I can ever do for you, please let me know!” he responded. “You’re my precious friend. I want to do anything I can to make you happy.”

The faintest of blushes appeared on Kirigiri’s face, which she then hid by shifting her gaze downwards. “Thank you, Naegi-kun. That means a lot to me,” she whispered. 

Now, it was official. Kirigiri had sworn to keep him safe from harm, which meant that there was no need for him to worry, or for her to worry. He was really just a human, so what he could do for the vampire girl was minimal. If someone came up to her with the intent to harm her, she would be able to defend herself better than anything he could do. Still, there had to be some way he could help her, like before when he had helped her walk to the lobby without tripping when she couldn’t see well.

Kirigiri was really hurting on the inside, wasn’t she? What she had said before about her father had proven that. Perhaps he would be able to stop her from hurting somehow. He wasn’t quite sure how he would go about that, but he was already a step closer. She looked as though she had fun today, even though she was stuck sitting under a palm tree in fear of the bright sun above. 

No one would hurt her. He vowed to make sure of that. 

And, of course, in Kirigiri's mind, she vowed to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you all are enjoying this fanfiction so far. I'd appreciate it if you could let me know by leaving a kudo or a comment, it really goes a long way. I hope I don't sound like I'm begging. I just like knowing that SOMEONE out there is reading what I'm writing, otherwise why am I writing?


	8. Beach Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments and kudos inspired me to write a new chapter right away!
> 
> This is short because I decided to cut it. The next scene didn't transition well into the same chapter, you know?
> 
> I hope you will still enjoy it anyway.

Naegi gazed at the bright blue sea, watching intently as the waves lapped at the shore. There was just something incredibly beautiful about the ocean that tended to draw people’s attention, and he was no exception. Crouching down by the water so that the incoming waves would tickle his feet and run through his toes, Naegi contemplated whether or not he felt like joining the rest of his classmates in their swimming competition.

…Well, it wasn’t so much a competition. With the Super High School Level Swimmer, the result was already inevitable. 

“Asahina-kun wins again!” Ishimaru declared loudly. He was perched on top of the lifeguard chair, for some reason deciding that it was his job to look after the students. It wasn’t a huge stretch seeing as he was the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, but Naegi wondered if he would actually be able to preform CPR or rescue someone from drowning. He supposed the boy was an angel, but did that really qualify him for such a task?

“I have no idea why you thought you could have possible won that, man!” Kuwata shouted out to Oowada, who was collapsed on the shore after an exhausting swim, looking as though he had just washed up.

“Shut up!” he shouted. “I wasn’t tryin’ to beat her, I was testing my strength! Who the hell thinks that I could beat the Super High School Level Swimmer who’s a goddamn naiad of all things?”

“Sure seemed like it,” Kuwata teased, ruffling his own soaked hair. He, of course, had tried to beat Asahina as well, but had obviously failed. Just like Oowada, however, he was outright denying it.

Hagakure stepped up onto the shore, right next to Naegi, and looked down at the water. “Dude, what would happen if I just went swimming? Do you think I could get to the bottom of the ocean?” he asked the boy, genuinely curious. “I mean, I’m already dead. It’s not like I’m going to drown or die from the water pressure!”

The human boy frowned. “…I have no idea,” he answered. There were probably a lot of things that Hagakure could do without risk seeing as he had already died, but he had never bothered to think about it. “I’m sure it would be possible, right? I don’t know much about ghosts though, so…”

Now that it came to mind, what were ghosts like? Thousands of people died every single day, so why was it that he could only see Hagakure? Shouldn’t the world be full of billions of ghosts just floating around and hanging out? Naegi scratched his head, trying to come up with some explanation. “Uh, Hagakure-kun, if you don’t mind me asking… how did you die in the first place?” he had to ask. 

“Whoa! That’s a sudden question, man!” the Super High School Level Fortune Teller shouted. “I uh… well… It’s a long story!”

“It’s not a long story!” Kuwata shouted from a short distance away. “You told me that you scammed a yakuza heiress and her family came and shot you.”

A bead of sweat drifted down Hagakure’s face. “Oh yeah, it was something like that!” He laughed nervously. “But it totally wasn’t my fault, okay!? I didn’t know she was a yakuza!” the poltergeist defended. 

“You shouldn’t scam anyone!” the baseball player retorted. 

Naegi frowned. So Hagakure was murdered… did that have anything to do with the fact that he was a ghost and that others weren’t? But… then shouldn’t every murdered person be a ghost? Well, it was stupid to think that his cause of death had anything to do with it, Naegi decided. Perhaps right now he shouldn’t be worrying about Hagakure and should be using up the time that he had on this gorgeous island. After all, this field trip wasn’t going to last forever.

The human boy looked back out to the water. It seemed as though Yamada had done something of a belly flop into the water, creating a splash that knocked Kuwata and Asahina backwards. Oogami seemed perfectly fine, just incredibly disappointed in the satyr for doing such a thing. Ikusaba was doing laps in the water a short distance away, and had been doing so for a while. She didn’t even look worn out. Being a werewolf must give her super strength, Naegi figured, plus she was extremely athletic already from being trained as a soldier. The other classmates seemed to be avoiding the water. Celes has finally finished doing her work and was now chatting to Enoshima about one thing or another, while Togami had taken over the book she had been reading. Fukawa was silently watching the shinigami boy from a short distance, careful not to get too close. Fujisaki had found a single flower growing out next to a rock and was talking to it, causing Naegi to wonder if dryads could really have conversations with plants, while Maizono watched with a big smile on her face. As for Kirigiri… she was simply under the tree, avoiding all contact with the sun. 

Well, what was the harm? Naegi couldn’t say he was a big fan of swimming, but he might as well as long as he was here. The boy stepped cautiously in the salty water and waded until he was deep enough in that his legs no longer touched the ocean floor. He allowed his body to float on the water, his back resting on the small waves. The sun sure was bright, he observed before closing his eyes. If it were bright in his opinion, he could only imagine how Kirigiri must see the sun. He would sure hate to be a vampire. 

It was quite warm outside. He did need this field trip, it was helping him to relax. Hope’s Peak Academy was a school for the elite after all, even if he had been accepted by complete accident. The academic level in the school was no joke. Some classes stressed him out beyond belief, though he did enjoy classes such as history, where he learned new things about the world of monsters.

He hadn’t told his parents or his little sister about the truth behind the school. He wondered what they would think if they knew. Would they worry for him? After all, the idea of being the only human at a school full of supernatural creatures who were potentially dangerous seemed rather alarming, especially to a parent. They would probably make him drop out and find another high school, huh? Maybe it was better if he didn’t tell them, then. After all, this academy was perfectly safe. Perhaps some of his classmates had the potential to kill him, but they weren’t going to. He trusted in them, no matter what Jin Kirigiri said.

That’s when Naegi felt a hand of some sort grip onto his leg. His eyes shot open and looked around, wondering who was pulling a prank on him, but he couldn’t find anyone. The hand’s grip suddenly tightened and tugged on him, pulling him downwards beneath the surface of the water with extreme strength. Confused, Naegi struggled, attempting to get above the water, but found that no matter how hard he flapped his arms, he was gaining no distance. The mysterious hand began to pull him away, further into the ocean where it was even deeper, far from the shore where the rest of his classmates were.

What was going on? Naegi kicked and struggled as he held desperately onto the air in his lungs. He could feel the effect of the air slowly fading as it became more and more apparent that whatever was holding onto him wasn’t going to let go. Realizing that he was in danger, Naegi kicked the leg that was being gripped, smacking something beneath him right in the face.

There was a large growl from underneath him. Looking down, Naegi saw that whatever the thing was, it certainly wasn’t a classmate. It was some sort of strange monster, staring at him with glowing yellow eyes, and it was not happy about being struck in the face. The sea monster reached its other hand out and grabbed onto his other leg, this time burying his claws into his skin and raking down.

Naegi tried to let out a scream as the claws ripped gashes in his leg, but he remembered too late that he was underwater, and all the air that he had escaped from his lungs. Feeling dizzier and dizzier, the boy kept kicking, kept struggling. The monster was getting increasingly more enraged with each kick to the face, and it began to claw at him harder. In a last desperate attempt, Naegi attempted to swim upwards with the last remnants of his strength, reaching his hand out towards the sun he could see reflected in the surface that seemed so far out of reach…

A loud shrieking sound abruptly pierced through Naegi’s ears. The creature’s claws dislodged from him as it screamed out in pain. A strong set of arms wrapped around the boy’s body, pulling him upwards towards the surface of the water. 

Naegi let out a huge, relieved gasp when his face broke the surface, air filling his lungs. For a minute, he had thought that he would never taste the air again, that he was going to die under the water.

“Leave the water!” a girl’s voice called out, unintentionally directly into Naegi’s either. 

The human boy looked over his shoulder, instantly meeting the cold blue eyes of Mukuro Ikusaba, whose arms were currently wrapped tightly around him. “I-Ikusaba-san!?” he shouted in surprise. “You…!”

Ikusaba said absolutely nothing. She simply threw the boy onto a rescue buoy and began to swim back with it towards the shore at an alarming speed, faster than he thought any human could ever go, but then again, Ikusaba was not human. She dragged him onto the shore and through the sand, far away from the waves. The dry sand clung to his body, but he was hardly concerned about that right now. He was still in shock over what had happened, and his legs were still bleeding badly.

“Whoa, are you okay, Naegi-chi!?” Hagakure shouted, his eyes wide with shock. “What happened out there?”

“Ikusaba-chan! What happened!?” Asahina cried out, staring at the injured boy. “You reacted so quickly, I didn’t even know what was going on!”

“There was a sea monster,” Ikusaba answered. “I didn’t see which kind. It tried to kill Naegi-kun. But that’s not important right now.” The girl turned towards the human boy, flipping him over onto his side and pressing into his chest. He suddenly coughed, seawater spewing out of his mouth. It was not exactly pleasant, but at least that was all it took. She had saved him quickly enough to prevent his airway from being completely blocked.

Oogami looked rather alarmed. “A sea monster? Is it still there?” she asked. “If need be, I can take care of it…”

Asahina clung to Oogami, shaking her head. “No! Don’t do that, Sakura-chan! You could hurt yourself!” she begged. “Besides, it’ll probably just swim away, right!?” 

The Super High School Level Fighter glanced down at the naiad. “…I don’t want it hurting anyone else,” she told her. 

Before they could finish their debate, Jin Kirigiri stepped in, running towards the group. “What happened here?!” he shouted, glancing at the boy. “Is he all right?!”

“He was attacked by a sea monster,” Ikusaba informed him. “I noticed that something was wrong right away and rescued him. My reaction time was perfect, so I managed to stop it before his life was in serious danger. He’s perfectly safe now.”

Jin, relieved, let out a sigh. “Thank goodness. I was right to place my trust in you, Ikusaba-san. You did well,” he thanked, giving her a nod of approval. 

Enoshima smirked after hearing her sister’s praise. “Looks like you did something good, Mukuro! Good for you! But you reacted awfully fast, didn’t you? Were you watching him or something?” she teased, laughing slightly. “Don’t tell me my mean ol’ sis has a crush on a human boy?”

The werewolf flustered slightly but ignored her sister’s comment. “You should contact someone about this… there shouldn’t be sea monsters on a resort,” she told the headmaster, her voice stern. “Especially not if humans also inhabit here, it could get people in serious danger.”

“Of course, I’ll tell Watanabe-san right away,” Jin affirmed.

The rest of the classmates, the ones who were far away from the shore when it happened, gathered around the scene. Togami crossed his arms and checked the book in his hands, muttering something about how it was never planned that Naegi would die today anyways, while Celes rechecked the paper that she was holding. Fujisaki looked like she was about to cry at such a horrible sight, and was quickly comforted by Maizono giving her a friendly pat on the back, though the witch herself looked rather concerned about the state of the boy. Fukawa was keeping her distance from the sight and was now hiding behind a palm tree. Finally, Kirigiri strode up to the scene, coming out of the comfort of the shade and into the bright sun. Her sunglasses were covering her eyes completely, hopefully blocking out whatever discomfort the bright sun would give her. 

“Naegi-kun?” she spoke out. 

“K-Kirigiri-san,” Naegi wheezed, looking up at the girl with a dim smile. “Sorry, I got myself in a bit of trouble, and… I don’t think you could have helped me, so don’t worry about it.” Just hours ago, the two of them had promised to protect each other, but he had fallen right into danger. However, he did not blame the girl. She could not have saved him, since it would have probably killed her. 

Worried, the girl bent down, her leggings hitting the sand. She observed him closely, a frown on her face. Her sunglasses, however, blocked him from reading her emotions, but he could tell that she was concerned for him. A gloved hand reached out and touched his cheek, gently reassuring him that everything was going to be okay. A smile broke out across Naegi’s face, despite the danger. 

“Kirigiri-san,” he whispered. “I’m all right.”

Kirigiri stroked his cheek slowly. Even though her soft touch was obscured partially by the leather glove that constantly hid her hands, it still felt warm. He slowly relaxed, feeling his shock depleting. It was all right now. Kirigiri would protect him, even if she couldn’t that time. When she couldn’t, Ikusaba would help him out. He had his friends around him, so there was nothing to worry about. His heartbeat, however, was still a little fast. Was it because Kirigiri was so close to him…? …She was quite close to him, in fact. When did her face get so close…? Her lips felt like they were mere centimeters away from his. Flustering, Naegi wondered what she was doing. She let out a sigh, her hot breath tickling his lips. “Naegi-kun,” she whispered.

Naegi gulped, closing his eyes. Her lips were so close to his… he could feel her getting even close, her hand grasping onto his shoulder. To be honest, he hadn’t been expecting this, but… his heart pounded. Kirigiri was a beautiful girl, wasn’t she? Even if she was a vampire, she was still kind and gorgeous. She had always tried to help him. But how did he feel about her…?

“Kirigiri-san,” he whispered once more. "I..."

“Kyouko!” Jin Kirigiri’s voice shouted, interrupting the two of them. He grabbed his daughter by the shoulder and jerked her back, his eyes widened. 

Naegi opened his eyes and blinked, confused. “Huh?” he muttered.

“I’m sorry about that, Naegi-kun,” Jin told the boy, still holding his daughter by the shoulder. His hand slipped down to hers, grabbing at it. “You will have to excuse me for a bit.” The headmaster glanced around, frowning. “Ikusaba-san, you’re in charge of Naegi-kun right now. All of you should avoid going in the water until we can get a handle on the situation,” he instructed, his voice firm. “I need to go right now. Behave yourselves.”

With that, the headmaster took off, his dazed daughter following behind him, leaving a very confused and flustered Naegi on the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluffy...? Naegiri at the end.
> 
> Hm... was it?


	9. Growing Hunger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another quick one!

Kirigiri must have been in some sort of a daze, for she did not attempt to fight her father back as he led her into the beach house, quickly shutting the door behind them and giving a quick look around to make sure that there were no students who were hiding out in there. His mind was a complete mess at the moment from having to deal with so many incidents at once, and he didn’t even know where to begin. That was what he got for being the human headmaster of an academy for super natural students, he figured. He should be more used to dealing with things like this, but it wasn’t every day one of his students got attacked by a sea monster.

In a gesture of anxiety and concern, Jin reached for the sunglasses covering his daughter’s eyes and ripped them off, revealing a pair of glowing red eyes that were staring right at him. He cringed, having to take a step back. He had known for a while about what had happened to his daughter when he had left her, but this was the first time he had seen her in such a state. It almost felt as though the reality of what she had become had been completely unknown to him until this very moment, where he was directly faced with the monstrous side of a very bloodthirsty vampire.

Cautiously, he studied her. She was breathing heavily, eyes fixated on him, but she did not look like she was about to attack. He had studied vampires throughout the years, so he knew well what they looked like when they were preparing to ambush their prey. That was what he had just seen, when his daughter had approached Naegi, the human boy. 

“…What are you doing?” he asked tentatively. His voice was harsh, hoping that it would bring her to her senses. “Don’t think I didn’t know what you were up to there.”

Kirigiri slowly blinked at him, her red eyes still trained on him. She said absolutely nothing.

“Kyouko,” he spoke out.

The vampire’s eyes narrowed, her throat letting out a deep growl. “Where is he?” she demanded harshly. She wasn’t acting like herself at all. “Naegi-kun. Where is he?”

Jin raised an eyebrow. “Why do you want to know?” he questioned. “Kyouko, you need to focus right now.”

Kirigiri shot her father a harsh glare, her crimson eyes piercing him. She opened her mouth slightly, revealing partially her shining fangs. “Please, get out of my way,” she requested. At least she hadn’t lost herself completely. “I was trying to do something.”

“You’re not acting like yourself right now,” he argued. “Your mind has been driven away by the scent of Naegi-kun’s blood.”

Tensing up, Jin was forced to recall that scene. Naegi had been lying there, so innocent to what his daughter had been attempting. Her face had been drawing closer, sure, but definitely not towards his lips. She had been aiming for his neck, her mouth partially open, and fangs bared, ready to sink into his flesh. The human boy had somehow completely missed this fact, probably because he trusted in her so much that he didn’t think she would be going after his blood. That poor boy was so innocent, Jin thought to himself.

Kirigiri, while completely calm on the outside, was fighting a burning thirst that was lying in the back of her throat, slowly eating away at her. She was thirsty, yes, but she hadn’t lost control of herself. Still, she was not thinking coherently. Whenever there was a pause in her conversation with Jin, her mind would flash back to the sight of Naegi’s legs, torn up and wounded from the attack. They had been gushing blood, which would normally be a disgusting sight to anyone, but was absolutely tantalizing to Kirigiri. 

The scent of Naegi’s blood had been oddly different than any human blood she had smelt before. Human blood had a different scent to it than animal blood, but Naegi's blood in particular smelt more appetizing and sweeter than the usual. Why was that…? 

She opened her mouth, bringing a gloved hand to her throat. She was thirsty… “Naegi-kun,” she whispered to herself, picturing the bleeding boy. His neck looked so soft and delicate. She bet her fangs would pierce right through his skin with hardly any effort. He wouldn’t even know what she was doing until she was already gulping down his blood.

Jin shifted nervously. He obviously had no idea how to handle the situation. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he spotted a vending machine. Darting towards it, he frantically began to check what they had in stock, and sighed in relief when he noticed the cans of blood. Of course it would be stocked with blood while supernatural creatures were residing on the island. Without thinking much, he inputted a random number in the machine and retrieved whatever flavor came out. He wasn’t sure about his daughter’s preferences, and he had no time to ask. The headmaster clicked the can open, filling the room with the scent of blood.

Kirigiri swept around and stared at the can. Her eyes widening, she felt her thirst grow even further. She hadn’t craved blood this much in so long. Without wasting another second, she snatched the can from her father’s hand and began downing the liquid, soothing the ache in her throat.

Once she had finished, Kirigiri snapped back to reality, her eyes changing back to their normal lilac. She dropped the empty can on the ground, realization hitting her. She let out a gasp, but nothing more. 

“…It looks like you’re back,” Jin remarked.

The vampire glanced up, putting on her normal emotionless face. “…Headmaster,” she addressed him. “Is Naegi-kun all right?”

She had to act cool and collected, she told herself, but on the inside she was filled with guilt. What had she just been thinking?

“He’s fine, but you managed to confuse him,” the headmaster informed her. “I think he thought you were about to kiss him or something.”

Kirigiri sighed, placing a hand to her forehead. What was she going to do about this? She had managed to place herself in a horribly awkward situation. Now, Naegi thought that she had been trying to kiss him, which was completely untrue, and she would have to explain to him that she had actually been trying to drink his blood. What a conversation that was going to be, she thought to herself. Not only that, but she had managed to completely betray her promise to him by attempting to cause harm to him and not saving him when he was in danger.

“I suppose I will have to tell him the truth,” she commenting, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes.

Jin frowned. “That’s the least of my concerns right now, to be honest with you,” he informed the girl, taking a step towards his daughter. “Kyouko, you lost control of yourself. I know that’s to be expected with vampires, but I’m worried about what will happen in the future when someone isn’t there to stop you. What if you really end up hurting Naegi-kun?”

The detective shot her father a harsh glare, feeling her hands clench into fists. “I don’t like how you think of me like that, headmaster. I wouldn’t hurt him,” she told him. “This was just a rare instance. I highly doubt we’ll ever get into these circumstances ever again.”

“I don’t think ill of you,” argued Jin. “It has nothing to do with who you are at all. It has everything to do with WHAT you are.” The headmaster shook his head, folding his arms over his chest. “It’s a common known fact that human blood supplies vampires with far more nutrition than animal blood. You’ve only ever drunken animal blood for the five years that you’ve been a vampire, meaning you’re severely lacking in the nutrients that you need. Most vampires aren’t able to maintain a human-free diet, and those who do are usually vampires who were born as vampires. I don’t know how much longer you can keep this up for.”

It was not the first time that someone had told Kirigiri this. Many doctors insisted that her choice of sticking to only dead animals was unhealthy, and that she should at least try to hunt and kill a live one, but she wasn’t like that. Kyouko Kirigiri was not one to murder anyone, human or animal. She intended to cling onto this diet as long as she possibly could, and after five years, she definitely wasn’t going to give up on it now. 

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “You lack confidence in me, headmaster.”

“It’s not that,” Jin protested. “Like I said, it has nothing to do with who you are, Kyouko. I know you’re not the kind of vampire who would hurt someone. I just have to worry, as a headmaster… and as a father.”

Kirigiri instantly tensed up. “You’re not my father,” she told him. “You shouldn’t be concerned.”

Of course, Jin looked hurt by this statement. “You may not think of me as that, and I have absolutely no right to ask you to, but I still view you as my daughter,” he responded. “I only accuse you of having the possibility of hurting someone because I care about you.” He looked directly into his daughter’s eyes, trying to convey his point. “Would you really be able to live with yourself if you hurt Makoto Naegi? If you succeeded in drinking his blood, what would you do then?”

Kirigiri froze. He was right, if she hurt Naegi, then she would never be able to forgive herself. She hated that this man had the audacity to be correct about her.

“…I don’t have any other choices other than to continue my diet,” she told the man. “And unless you have some sort of alternative idea that doesn’t involve anyone getting hurt, then we’re at a standstill. I just have to trust in myself that it won’t happen again.”

“I do have an idea,” the man informed her. “However, you won’t like it.”

Raising an eyebrow, Kirigiri had to wonder what exactly her father was thinking about. “Go on,” she urged. “Tell me.”

“Drink my blood,” he told her, his tone completely blunt.

Kirigiri was genuinely taken aback by the suggestion, her eyes widening as her usual emotionless mask faded away. It was hard for her to hide her shock at such an idea. “What?” she asked him. “You… what do you mean by that? You aren’t serious, are you?”

“I’m completely serious,” Jin reaffirmed, crossing his arms. He shot his daughter a stern look, indicating that he was in no way joking about this suggestion. “You are a young vampire, so it’s impossible that you’ve already become venomous. You have no ability to change anyone into a vampire, so there is absolutely no harm, and if you really have already developed venom, then I don’t care what happens to me. I’m willingly offering you my blood, so you wouldn’t be hurting anyone. And… as much as it pains me to say this, you wouldn’t care if you were to drink everything that was left of me, would you?” He sighed, closing his eyes. He had accepted his own daughter’s resentment towards him, and completely understood it. “…I know you hate me, Kyouko. You deserve every right to hate me for abandoning you. But it’s my fault that you became a vampire, and I have to take responsibility for that. I want to help you in any way that I can, and this is the absolute best way that I can.”

Kirigiri was stunned. “…Why are you saying these things?” she asked.

“Because you’re my daughter, and I still love you,” he told her, a saddened smile on his face. “I already told you that, just moments ago. Have you already forgotten?”

The vampire clenched her fists together, looking away. “I refuse to drink your blood,” she answered. “I don’t want to have to resort to that.”

Jin nodded. “I expected that you would say that.” Cautiously, he approached his daughter, who did not make any attempt to move away from him as he did so. “But I want you to know that it’s always an option. I want you to be healthy and safe, Kyouko, so I will always be ready to give my blood to you. It’s the only way that I can make up for what I’ve done to you… and to your mother.”

The crushing atmosphere was too much for Kirigiri. She had to leave, and she had to leave right now. “…I’ve heard enough. I’m going to go back to my cabin and rest,” she told him. “I don’t want to go back to the beach until Naegi-kun is properly treated. Just tell another classmate to fetch me when the situation has been handled.” She made for the door, not giving a single last glance to her father, and exited.

…It was always easier to skip the goodbyes, otherwise conversations would drag out, she figured.

Back at the beach, Naegi was still recovering from the shock of being nearly killed by a sea monster and almost being kissed within a span of about ten minutes. He was lying on the beach with the dry sand clinging his skin, making it a rather uncomfortable position to be in. However, he couldn’t move now, not when Ikusaba was busy wrapping up his injured legs in tight bandages. 

“Wow, Fenrir really did teach you a lot, Mukuro!” Enoshima commented, watching intently as her sister helped the boy. Why she was so interested in this was beyond Naegi’s understanding, but it didn’t bother him. “I was thinking all that old werewolf pack did was teach you how to kill a man in a hundred different ways and turn you into a werewolf, but I guess it did do some good.”

Ikusaba ignored her sister, still completely intent on what she was doing. She made sure that the bandages were covering every inch of his wounds and that they were wound tightly enough to prevent much further bleeding. After inspecting her work, she gave a small nod and stood up.

“You should lie down for a bit longer,” the werewolf instructed. “You lost a bit of blood, so standing up might make you too dizzy.”

“Thanks, Ikusaba-san!” he responded, smiling at the girl. He had been so caught up with what happened to him and Kirigiri that he hadn’t given the Super High School Level Soldier enough thanks for what she had done. It made him feel quite guilty and ashamed that he had been so caught up in his thoughts of the vampire girl.

Ikusaba nodded. “Just doing my job,” she responded.

To this, Enoshima laughed loudly. “You’re so uptight, Mukuro! At least tell him that you’re welcome!” she told her sister, nudging her rather roughly in the stomach with her elbow. 

The werewolf stiffened. “…You’re welcome,” she corrected.

“You have to forgive my big sister,” the angel spoke to Naegi, giving him a smile. “She’s a bit of a quiet one and has a hard time getting her feelings across. She doesn’t even have any friends!”

Naegi frowned. That didn’t seem like a nice thing to say, but it was probably true. He had to admit that he had never seen her interact with anyone for an extended period of time outside of her sister. Still, it wasn’t exactly nice to point it out, especially in front of another person.

Ikusaba also seemed rather uncomfortable with this comment. “…I’m sorry,” she apologized.

Why was she apologizing? She didn’t have anything to apologize for. Naegi couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl. What if she was just too shy to talk to people or something like that…? He should really try to get to know her better. After all, she seemed like a very nice person! 

“I understand,” Naegi told Enoshima, smiling. “Ikusaba-san is definitely a good person.”

The werewolf shifted at the remark. “…Do you think so?” she responded, her voice just an octave above a whisper.

“Of course! I mean, you saved me,” he told her. “I know that the headmaster ordered you to, but you still did it. I think that goes to show just what sort of person you are inside, Ikusaba-san.” 

Enoshima looked interested. “Hm? What’s this about the headmaster ordering you to do something?” she asked, turning to look her twin in the eye, who in response quickly averted her gaze. “You gotta tell me, I’m dying to know.”

“The headmaster suspected that there was a threat to Naegi-kun’s wellbeing, so he told me to protect him,” the girl explained. “That’s really all there is to it. I rescued him because it was my orders and apart of my duty as a Super High School Level Soldier.”

To this, Enoshima rolled her eyes. “So you’re saying if it wasn’t an order, you would have let him die? Uh-huh,” she responded, sarcasm lacing her tone. “God, Mukuro, you would have saved him if it wasn’t an order and you know it. You don’t have to pretend like everything is so… impersonal.” Crossing her arms under her chest, the angel huffed. “Geez. You aren’t in the army anymore, you can act like you’re a normal girl now.”

“I’m not a normal girl,” Ikusaba pointed out. “I’m a werewolf, you’re an angel, and this is Hope’s Peak Academy for the Supernatural. We cannot go around pretending that we are still both human.”

Naegi tilted his head. Ikusaba had mentioned before that she had been human, but this was the first he was hearing about Enoshima. Now that she mentioned it, it was really the only thing that made sense. If she had been born an angel, then by all means Ikusaba should have been too. Did that mean that there was some way of becoming an angel? That was a rather strange thought. There was no way that just anyone could become an angel, right? Maybe there was something special about Enoshima.

“You’re being so literal, geez. You’re still Mukuro Ikusaba even if you’re a werewolf, so just act the way Mukuro Ikusaba would,” Enoshima urged her. “Get to know this human kid better. Besides, it looks like you already have your eye on him.” She ended that last sentence with a wink, laughing a bit to herself.

Ikusaba flustered. “I-I… I don’t know…” she stuttered.

Sensing her nervousness, Naegi gave her a warm smile, hoping it would ease her. “I’d certainly like to get to know you better!” he told her. “I mean, err… not in THAT way, but I really would like to be your friend.” He felt as though he had to make it clear that he was not coming onto her or anything, otherwise Enoshima might make some sort of embarrassing joke about it.

Instead of making a joke, however, Enoshima gave her sister a smile. “I think you should go for it, Mukuro,” she urged. “Get to know the boy! It’s been a while since you’ve had a friend, right? Or have you ever had a friend that wasn’t me?” She scratched her head, then shrugging. “Oh well, who knows what kind of dogs you met at Fenrir. The point is that I’m telling you to talk to the guy, all right?”

Ikusaba looked puzzled. She gave her sister a look, tilting her head slightly, silently asking again if it was really okay for her to talk to the boy. Naegi had to wonder why she was acting as though she needed her sister’s permission to talk to him, but perhaps their family dynamic was more complicated than he thought.

“…A-All right,” Ikusaba decided, her voice firm. She turned towards Naegi, giving him a firm look. “…Then… I’ll do it.”

Naegi broke out into a bright grin. “That’s amazing, Ikusaba-san!” he cried out, unable to contain his excitement. He nearly hopped into the air with joy, but the pain in his legs reminded him it wasn’t a good idea. “I’m really happy! “

Nodding, Ikusaba looked at her feet. Despite this declaration, she still did not seem entirely sure of herself. Sensing this, Enoshima gave her another nudge and a nod. More sure of herself, the girl looked up once again. “…Then, I will be your friend, Naegi-kun,” she told him. “As well as your protector.”

Enoshima laughed, elbowing her sister. “That’s my older sister!” she called out.

The Super High School Level Good Luck smiled. What a wonderful sister Enoshima was, he thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Are you sure, Naegi?)
> 
> The point of this chapter was to finally get Ikusaba out of her shell (for the most part) as well as show a bit of the relationship between Kirigiri and Jin, as well as expand upon the vampirism plotline. 
> 
> The next chapter will be more interesting, I hope!


	10. Sand Castles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stayed up late to write this for you guys. Hope you enjoy!

Naegi did not see Kirigiri until much later that day, for some unknown reason. She did not return to the beach, not even for the many activities that Jin Kirigiri had planned. He had been rather concerned about her during the whole thing, so it had been pretty hard for him to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing. 

“All right, class!” shouted Jin Kirigiri. “This next competition will be for everyone, including all of you who can’t swim.”

Fujisaki perked up instantly. “F-Finally!” she shouted out in glee, though not too loudly. “I’ve been waiting to participate!”

“We’re going to be holding a sandcastle contest,” the headmaster told them. “The rules are fairly simple. Whoever makes the best sandcastle in the next thirty minutes wins, judged by me. Size doesn’t necessarily matter, what’s important is the aesthetics of it.”

Suddenly, Ishimaru jumped up. “This is my time to shine!” he shouted out. “I’m a champion sand castle builder! When I was younger, I spent all my time on the beach building the best sandcastles!”

Oowada snorted at that remark, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “You think you’re the best sand castle builder?” he scoffed. “I’ll have you know that me and my big bro used to make the absolute best sandcastles. Hell, they were even bigger than me!” 

“Then prove yourself!” the angel shouted, pointing directly at the werewolf. “I challenge you to win this competition!”

“Oh, you’re fucking on!” roared Oowada. 

Jin cleared his throat. “That being said, your thirty minutes starts right now!” he called out. “Have fun!”

Naegi sat down in his patch of sand, trying to decide what exactly he wanted to do. He couldn’t exactly call himself a champion sand castle builder like Ishimaru and Oowada. Sure, he had gone to the beach and built sandcastles with his little sister, but Komaru had always been better than him at it. If anything, his skill at sand castle building was simply average. He scratched his hair a few times, trying to search his brain for any sort of idea that would make his sand castle stand out, but found that he could come up with absolutely nothing.

Well, better to try than to do nothing, he figured. The Super High School Level Good Luck began building up his sand castle exactly as he remembered doing it when he was a child sitting on the beach with Komaru. He gathered as much sand as he could and formed it into a tower, much like stereotypical castle ones you would see in picture books, and then placed a shiny seashell he found on top of it. He looked at it, frowning. He had tried his very best, but there was no other word to describe it other than simply “average.”

It wasn’t going to win, he thought to himself, but it was still a pretty nicely made tower. Besides, he liked the seashell he found. Smiling to himself, he decided he had done a fine job, even if it wasn’t exactly the best sand castle anyone had ever seen.

“I wonder what the others are doing,” he spoke to himself. Curiously, he turned around…

Oowada was sitting in front of a massive sandcastle, perhaps the size of a small child. “How do you like this!?” he shouted across the castle.

Next to the werewolf was Ishimaru, who had made an equally as massive sandcastle modeled after Hope’s Peak Academy. “Yours has no heart!” he accused. “It’s simply a castle, nothing more nothing less!”

“I’m not a suck up like you, I ain’t making our stupid school!” Oowada growled, piling more sand on top of his castle. “You’re just trying to get on the headmaster’s good side!”

“I am not!” the angel argued. “I love Hope’s Peak Academy, so I felt inspired to make a sand castle version of it!”

“God, you love school? What a fucking loser!” the Super High School Level Gang Leader scoffed. He scooped up a lump of sand, slamming it on top of his castle and quickly molding it. “I ain’t about that! I’m the Super High School Level Gang Leader, after all! My life is about rebelling!”

“You have chosen a poor life!” Ishimaru shouted.

Naegi felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. He was completely in awe of their well-made sandcastles, sure, but the fighting was a bit too intense. What were they even trying to prove to each other?

“He’s a typical werewolf,” Ikusaba commented, stepping up from behind Naegi. It appeared as though she had given up on her sand castle before she had even started trying. “Werewolves get very competitive and often try to best each other to be, for lack of better words, the ‘alpha.’ Sometimes they even get like that against other species. It’s strange how it works…”

Naegi looked behind him, blinking. “You’re not really like that though, Ikusaba-san. You’re pretty quiet and you keep to yourself,” he observed.

Laughing at this comment, Enoshima strode up next to her sister, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She had finished her sandcastle, which was decked out in every possible seashell she could find. “That’s because Mukuro here was tamed by Fenrir!” she explained, using her other hand to ruffle her sister’s short hair. “It’s like obedience training. When you have a puppy that misbehaves, the owner tries to teach it and tame it to do things like sit and shut up.”

Ikusaba did not seem happy with this comparison. “That’s not it,” she insisted. “I was born a human and raised as a wolf by Fenrir. Fenrir is not a pack that argues over territory or battles within its own members for dominance, but a pack that fights as mercenaries for both human and supernatural war. We are promoted by fighting in battles, not by having foolish competitions over who can build the biggest sandcastle.”

Enoshima rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, so that means you’re really just a normal human girl who turns into a giant puppy once a month,” she pointed out. 

“…I-I’m not a puppy,” she whispered. “It’s much different from that…”

“Oh yeah, I know,” she reassured her sister. “I mean, you could probably kill Naegi-kun without much effort at all. No puppy could do that.”

A shiver went up Naegi’s spine. He knew that she was just joking around, but something about it rubbed him the wrong way, and he didn’t exactly want to think about the idea of his friends, well, killing him. He knew it was entirely possible since supernatural creatures were much stronger than humans, but the students at Hope’s Peak Academy were much better than that, and he hardly thought of some as being monsters in the first place. Sure, Ikusaba was a werewolf, but he hadn’t really seen a side of her that indicated that. To him, it was basically like she was a human girl.

“There, ‘ya see!?” Oowada shouted, standing up next to his castle, which was by now the same size as him. “See if you can top this!”

“Your castle lacks inspiration!” the angel accused once again.

“We’ll see ‘bout that, the timer is almost up, you know!” the werewolf boy shouted. 

Looking alarmed, Ishimaru quickly went back to work on the finishing touches of his Hope’s Peak Academy sandcastle model, ignoring the shouts of the other boy. His eyes were flaring up with determination as he molded the sand to the rest of his castle.

Indeed Oowada was right. About thirty seconds afterwards, Jin Kirigiri blew his whistle to call time. Everyone instantly stopped working on their sandcastle, stepping away from it and holding their hands in the air to indicate that they were completely done. “All right!” Jin called out. “I’ll take a look at all of your sandcastles one by one and decide which one is my favorite, so just hang on for a second while I go around.”

The headmaster began to inspect each sandcastle one by one, his face completely unreadable. Naegi had absolutely no idea what the man was thinking as he stared at his castle, carefully looking over every last detail. Sure, his castle was completely average so it probably wasn’t that mind blowing, but Naegi couldn’t help but think that he had done a pretty good job. Looking directly at the man’s face, he realized just how much he looked like Kirigiri, with his poker face and the way he was picking apart every last detail with his eyes. It was a rather strange thought, especially since he knew that Kirigiri didn’t like to be associated with him.

He gave a small nod and then went on to the other castles. It took him a particularly long time to look at Ishimaru and Oowada’s, seeing as they were so large and probably contained a good amount of detail. As Jin inspected his castle, the werewolf grinned in pride. To him, this competition had already spelled out his victory. Ishimaru, on the other hand, stood up completely straight, trying to present himself and his castle as best as he could in hope to get some bonus points.

“All right,” he spoke out. “I’ve decided which one I like the best.”

“D-Did you!?” Ishimaru responded almost instantly. Naegi could tell he was a bit nervous by his slight stutter.

Oowada huffed. “What, are you nervous, holy boy?” he taunted.

“H-Holy boy!?” repeated Ishimaru, taken aback by the strange name. “A-And no! Of course not!”

Jin sighed, ignoring the banter between the two of them. He gave the castles one final look around and then nodded firmly. “I’ve decided. The winner of this completion is Chihiro Fujisaki!” he declared.

Fujisaki looked up, gasping. “R-Really?” she squeaked, standing in front of her rather small sand castle. She looked down on it, gazing in wonder. The sand castle was tiny and was decorated modestly in seashells and other strange things she had found on the beach, such as washed up seaweed. It was simple but well designed, and the way she arraigned the seashells by color truly brought it out. “Did I really win?”

Jin smiled. “Of course!” he told her. “That’s what I said, didn’t I? I thought your castle was very well designed, Fujisaki-kun. It’s simple but it has good aesthetics.”

Fujisaki’s face brightened. “I did it!” she called out. “I-I finally won something!”

Asahina looked absolutely overjoyed for her friend. “That’s so wonderful, Fujisaki-chan!” she gushed, running over to congratulate her. “You did a really good job! I don’t think I could have done something like that! And I really did try my hardest, too…”

The dryad smiled. “T-Thank you so much!” she responded, blushing slightly.

Meanwhile, Oowada and Ishimaru were standing there in complete shock, unable to believe that their enormous sand castles had not won. Oowada looked up and down at his castle, growling to himself. “Damn it!” he cursed. “I don’t get it, my sandcastle was fucking great!”

“I-I worked so hard on mine!” Ishimaru lamented. He seemed a little more accepting of this fact, though, while Oowada appeared to be quite angry.

Jin frowned, crossing his arms. “Oowada-kun, simple is usually better. It’s about the quality, not the quantity.” He turned towards Ishimaru, giving him a nod. “I appreciate your effort too, Ishimaru-kun, but I believe Fujisaki-kun’s was more appealing.”

Oowada cursed under his breath. “Damn it, can you at least tell me if I beat this brat or not?” he asked, jerking his thumb towards the angel.

“I only decided on first place, and that’s all I will be deciding,” Jin told him firmly. 

“Fine!” the werewolf shouted. He turned towards the angel, a fiendish growl erupting from his throat. “Then we’ll have to settle this on our own time.”

Ishimaru nodded his head. “We should have a rematch!” he agreed. “And then, I will surely beat you!”

“I’ll make you eat those words!” Oowada shouted.

With a sigh, Ikusaba shook her head and whispered something about typical werewolf behavior. Really, it was quite evident from observing Oowada that he was a werewolf. He constantly growled and got into pointless arguments, like the one with the upperclassman werewolf back in the cafeteria. It was almost hard to believe that he was the same species as the cool, collected Mukuro Ikusaba.

But that had happened a few hours ago. The sky was now dark and the students had been taken into an old, almost unused cabin for a feast. The chefs on the island had prepared all kinds of food and set it on the tables, allowing the students to eat however much they wanted. Since this was an expensive resort, Naegi instantly noticed that the food was top quality, and he could hardly stop himself from trying almost everything they had. He had been feeling particularly hungry after that exhausting day.

Kirigiri had still not shown up. He had to admit that he was quite concerned about her, though it made him blush to think about what had happened when he had last encountered her. The girl’s face had been so close to his, her lips drawing closer and closer… She had been about to kiss him, hadn’t she? Flustering, Naegi took another bite of his chocolate cake. Why had she suddenly tried to kiss him…? It was strange, but he couldn’t help but wish that Jin hadn’t interrupted her. He had never kissed anyone before, and was rather curious as to what it would be like, especially with someone like Kirigiri. She was his best friend, and the idea of kissing her hadn’t occurred until earlier today, but it was now the only thing he could think about.

“Are your legs feeling better?” Ikusaba asked. She was sitting across from him, slowly eating a plate of roasted meat, still on the bone. 

“Oh, yeah!” he responded, suddenly remembering his injury. He had been so caught up in the events from earlier that he had completely forgotten about the sea monster and how his legs had practically been torn open. Looking down at his bandaged legs, he could tell that the bleeding had at least stopped, though it still stung a bit. As to be expected from such an encounter, he figured.

“If you need me to redo the bandages, just let me know,” Ikusaba told him. “I’m not the Super High School Level Nurse, but since she’s not here, I’ll have to do. At Fenrir Mercenary Corps, they taught us how to care for wounded soldiers in battle.”

Enoshima, who was sitting right next to her sister, laughed a little bit. “Maybe Naegi-kun can go to you for medical help all the time. Probably safer than trusting that nurse girl,” she remarked.

Naegi frowned. “I don’t really know her, but I’m sure she’s a good person,” he defended. It saddened him to hear people speak ill of others.

“Oh, no, she’s completely fine, I just wouldn’t trust her around humans,” Enoshima elaborated. “She’d probably eat you or something.” 

Ikusaba frowned. “Stop trying to scare him,” she requested. “No one in this school is trying to kill him.”

“Some sea monster might, though,” the angel remarked, shrugging. “You know, like, what happened earlier today. That was kind of bizarre.”

Bizarre was a weird way to describe it; it was more like it was kind of horrifying. He had really thought he was going to die for a good minute, and he probably would have if Ikusaba hadn’t spotted him. 

“Running into a sea monster so close to shore on a resort of all things. Man, you’re not really the Super High School Level Good Luck, are you? More like Super High School Level Bad Luck,” Enoshima commented, twirling a strand of her hair with her finger. 

“I think about that a lot,” he responded simply. Really, getting sent to a school full of supernatural creatures and then nearly being killed by a sea monster. Some luck he was having, though he did enjoy being at the academy.

The conversation ended there, and the three of them were left in complete silence. Naegi continued to eat his chocolate cake as he looked around the room, trying to figure out what other people were up to. Oowada was feasting on a huge chunk of meat, much like one would expect of a wolf, while Ishimaru yelled at him for not having any manners. Kuwata was in the corner talking to Maizono, who was smiling brightly and looking quite amused by whatever he was saying. Oogami, Asahina and Fujisaki were sharing a table, with Fujisaki and Asahina trying different kinds of desserts with each other while Oogami sipped her coffee and watched them. Yamada was staring at the drink options with a look of despair, no doubt lamenting over the fact that there was no alcohol for him. Celestia was in the corner, having finished her work and sipping her tea in complete silence with Togami. Of course, Fukawa was watching the two of them, looking particularly wary of Celestia. At least it was more tame here than in the school cafeteria, with all the other supernatural creatures causing havoc.

Right as Naegi was about to start a new conversation, Kirigiri stepped into the room, her heels clacking against the wooden floor. She glanced at the planks, frowning. There were gaps in the floor, making it rather hard for her to walk around in her heels without them getting stuck. 

“Kirigiri-san!” he shouted, jumping up from the table. He couldn’t contain his excitement.

Kirigiri glanced in his direction, giving him a light smile. “Hello, Naegi-kun,” she greeted him. She then walked over to the table, giving Enoshima and Ikusaba small nod of acknowledgement. 

“Where were you, Kirigiri-san?” the human boy asked, his voice full of concern. She had suddenly disappeared with her father after she had tried to kiss him, and no one had bothered to explain to him why. “I was really worried about you. Are you okay?”

Kirigiri couldn’t help but smile over the boy’s concern for her wellbeing. “I’m fine, don’t worry,” she reassured. “What matters is that I’m here now.” 

“Y-Yeah!” he agreed. “The chefs on this island made us a whole bunch of food. It’s all really good! I couldn’t help but try a bit of everything.” He had no idea why he was acting like this around her. Was he nervous…? 

“Well then, excuse me for a moment,” she told him. “I’ll be back in a moment. Do fill me in on what happened after my departure.”

With that, the girl turned away and walked towards a vending machine in the corner, staring at what was inside. Naegi looked away, trying to put his thoughts together. He hadn’t been acting normally around her just now, had he? His face flustered up, his hands clenching the fabric of his pants. Why was he so nervous? Was it because of how they almost had kissed…? He felt more heat rush into his face, confirming his suspicions. He just couldn’t act normally around the girl after they had shared such a moment. His mind was filled with thoughts of her face so close to his, her hot breath tickling his lips…. 

Oh, god, he had to stop thinking about this! He felt like he was going to melt on the spot. Besides, Ikusaba and Enoshima were staring at him, the angel giving him a knowing smirk and Ikusaba looking rather lost in her own thoughts. 

Kirigiri returned shortly, only with an aluminum can. She clicked off the top and took a sip, and then began to speak. “What happened after I left?” she asked.

“We had a bunch of competitions,” Naegi told her straight away. “There were a few swimming competitions, but we had to be careful because of the sea monster, so we only did a bit. Then, we had a sandcastle building contest, a seashell contest, a crab contest…” Shaking his head, he realized he was rambling. “It was a lot of fun. I really wish you could have been there.”

“It’s all right,” she assured him. “I probably wouldn’t be able to participate in any of those anyway.”

Naegi instantly felt sorry for her. The sun had been extraordinarily bright, so she was probably correct. They had so much fun playing on the beach, but her species restricted her from such things. Did that mean she could never enjoy being on the beach…? The thought broke his heart, for some reason.

“Uh, you know, this chocolate cake is really good!” he spoke out, randomly changing the subject. “You should try some.”

Kirigiri stared at the cake, placing a hand to her chin and inspecting it. “It does look very delicious,” she observed.

Naegi pushed the cake towards her. “Here, have a bite!” he offered. “Oh, wait, but you need your own fork, uh… I have an extra!” The boy frantically looked about the table, handing her an extra fork he happened to have on hand. He was really not acting like himself today, was he?

Curiously, Kirigiri took a small piece of the cake with her fork and brought it to her mouth. She tasted it, and then swallowed the piece. “It is very good,” she agreed, smiling at the boy and pushing the cake back towards him. “I haven’t tasted anything like that in a while.”

Naegi, feeling his heart rate increasing, frantically tried to figure out what to do next. “Ikusaba-san!” he suddenly called out, glancing towards the Super High School Level Soldier. “Why don’t you have a bite as well? It’s really good!”

“I’m allergic to chocolate,” she informed him, looking rather surprised that he had offered. “But thank you.”

“Being allergic to chocolate must suck,” Enoshima commented. “One of the reasons not to become a werewolf, I guess.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” she reminded her sister.

Oh, so werewolves were allergic to chocolate? That did make some sense. When he was younger, he and his little sister Komaru had owned a dog, so he knew well that dogs were not supposed to eat chocolate. It was strange how little things like that effected Ikusaba, he thought to himself.

Nervously, Naegi focused his attention back on the Super High School Level Detective. His eyes trailed up and down her, flustering. She was really gorgeous, wasn’t she? He had to ask her about what had happened earlier, it would kill him if he didn’t. Kirigiri picked up her can and took another sip, swallowing the substance inside. She suddenly caught Naegi’s gaze, her eyes giving him an intense glare, sending a shiver up his spine. Her mouth opened partially, revealing the tips of long, pointy fangs that were coated in blood. 

He nearly froze to his seat. That’s right, Kirigiri was a vampire, and she drank blood. He had even offered her human food without thinking! Had she just accepted to be kind? This was the first time he had seen anything about her that seemed remotely vampire like. Cautiously, the boy’s eyes trailed back down to her mouth. Those inhuman fangs of hers were caked in crimson blood. What kind of blood? Human blood…? Glancing towards the can in her hand, he noticed that it was labeled “deer.” So it was just deer blood, then, he thought to himself. As if Kirigiri would ever drink human blood. He let out a small sigh of relief and went back to eating his own chocolate cake, though he couldn’t help but notice her gaze was still fixed on him.

After a few minutes in silence, Naegi noticed people were beginning to filter out of the lodge. Enoshima stood up and stretched her wings as far as they would go, as well as her arms. “It’s getting late, I’m going to go to bed. What about you, Mukuro?” she asked, glancing down at her sister.

Ikusaba nodded in agreement. “I’m going as well.” The werewolf quickly got up and bowed her head to Naegi in thanks. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him, and then left in a hurry.

Enoshima watched her sister depart. “Mukuro’s really taken to you, you know,” she told the human boy, grinning. “I hope you like her as much as she likes you!” With those words, the angel left as well, leaving the boy at the table with Kirigiri.

Now completely alone with the girl, Naegi flustered. He had to discuss what had happened earlier with her, otherwise he would be feeling awkward about it every time he got near her. “Um,” he began to speak up, the nervousness in his tone completely evident. He hesitated a bit more, looking off to the side. “Um… Kirigiri-san?” 

Kirigiri held up a gloved hand flat in the air. “I know what you’re going to ask me,” she told him right off the bat. She placed her empty can on the table, having finished her meal. “You want to know about what happened on the beach, after the sea monster attacked you.”

Naegi looked surprised. Was he really that easy to read? 

“I want you to forget about it,” she told him firmly.

Naegi blinked, taken aback by her words. “What?” he asked.

“Quite simply, I want you to forget it ever happened,” she repeated. “Just… forget about it, all right?”

The boy wasn’t entirely sure what to think. He looked at his shoes, trying to come up with a good response. He wanted to know why, but what good did it to do ask? Besides, it wasn’t his choice. If she didn’t want him to discuss it with her and if she wanted him to pretend like it never happened, then he would. Perhaps that would be best for their relationship, anyway, since the whole fact that she tried to kiss him was making things pretty awkward between them. Kirigiri was his friend, and he didn’t want to lose that. His mind made up, the boy gave her a firm nod.

“I’ll forget about it,” he responded, smiling at her. 

Kirigiri looked relieved. “Thank you, Naegi-kun.”

Glancing at the clock, Naegi noticed that it was indeed quite late. Everyone else in the class had gone to bed. Perhaps he should be going, too.

“I’m going to go to bed as well,” Kirigiri informed him. “I have a sleep schedule to maintain and I’d rather not mess it up by staying awake any further.” With that, the vampire stood up, giving him a slight smile. “Thank you again for listening to me, Naegi-kun. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem!” he responded instantly.

With that, the two of them parted and went off to their cabins. All the way, Naegi thought about what had happened today. He had been attacked by a sea monster, made a new friend, nearly been kissed, and then told to forget about it. It was only the first day of their field trip, too. Sure, it was a short field trip, but if the first day was this eventful, then he wondered what was in store for him for tomorrow…

It would be fun, no matter what, he decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I wanted to expand upon Ishimondo in this chapter for one thing as well as well, Naekusaba and Naegiri, as well as get the plot moving a bit.
> 
> I hope this chapter was interesting! Thank you for all the lovely reviews.
> 
> (Naegi is so innocent. It's not going to go well for him, I'm sure).


	11. Nightfall on the Beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to get this out by Christmas, but oh well!

The second day of the field trip was mostly the same as the first. All of the students in the class gathered at the beach after breakfast to hang out and swim in the water, which the resort owner assured was now completely free of any and all sea monsters, at least for a good hundred miles. When the headmaster had informed the owner about the incident with Naegi, he had been very confused, as he made sure every day to apply some sort of chemical made from witch’s magic that was supposed to ward away sea monsters. How one had managed to get through was completely beyond him. Maybe it was just his terrible luck, the boy thought to himself.

Naegi didn’t want to go in the water after what had happened yesterday. He knew it was silly of him for there was no chance there would be another sea monster, but the thought sent shivers down his spine. Besides, it was just as much fun to hang out on the sand and chat with his other classmates.

“Err… Leon Kuwata-dono?” Yamada spoke up. The satyr was lying on a towel, his surprisingly skinny goat legs hoisted up into the air, his hooves pointed towards the sun. “You’re like, a succubus, right?”

“Incubus,” Kuwata corrected. The boy was soaking wet, droplets of water rolling down from his bright orange hair. A towel was slung over his shoulder casually, perhaps in some sort of attempt to make him look cooler, though to Naegi it just made no sense. “What about it?”

“That’s like, a demon who steals souls by having sex with girls, right?” he recalled. “How many souls have you actually gotten?”

A bead of sweat trickled down Kuwata’s face, or maybe it was just a drop of water from his hair. “I’ll have you know that Incubi can take souls through kissing, too!” he argued. “So yeah, I’ve gotten plenty of souls from kissing girls. Just… it’s not exactly what my boss WANTS me to do…”

“So you’re a total failure as an incubus? I see, I see,” Yamada observed, smiling. “You and I are alike! But fear not, Leon Kuwata-dono. I’ll let you read some of my Super High School Level Doujin! The world of 2D is far more interesting than 3D.”

Kuwata grumbled, combing his disheveled hair with his fingers. “Nah. I’m not into that otaku stuff,” he rejected. “Sorry man, just ain’t my sort of thing. I’m busy with work, baseball, and my vocal exercises. Basically, I’m fully booked.”

Yamada looked dejected. “Oooh…. I’ll never find anyone in this school who can appreciate the art of 2D,” he lamented, hanging his head. The Super High School Level Doujin Author then caught sight of Naegi, who had been sitting a short distance away. “What about you, Makoto Naegi-dono?”

Truth be told, Naegi did look at some manga with his younger sister, Komaru, but she was far more into it than he was. She had plenty of series that she would read on a regular basis, but there were few he was interested in. Really, he just liked the slice of life comedy ones more than anything involving giant robots or ninja assassins. “I think manga can be interesting,” he responded.

Yamada’s eyes lit up from behind his glasses. “Ohoho… would you be interested in my doujin, then?” he asked. “I have all kinds of doujin, from magical girls, to robots, to henta—“

“—I’m good,” Naegi interrupted. “But maybe some other time.”

Once again, the satyr looked down at his hooves. “No one here appreciates true art when they see it,” he muttered to himself. 

Shortly after his melancholic comment, Celestia Ludenberg approached the Super High School Level Doujin Author. The shinigami girl looked down on him with one of her classic smiles. “Yamada, would you be so kind as to fetch me some tea?” she requested, lacing her fingers together. “And a cup of coffee for Togami-kun. We are quite hard at work and need something to quench our thirst.”

At this request, Yamada hopped to his hooves. “I will do so at once, Miss Celestia Ludenberg!” he declared, striking a triumphant pose, hands on his hips. Shortly after, he scurried off as fast as his hooves would take him back to the lobby restaurant. After the satyr had left, Celestia turned around and walked back to her place under an umbrella, Togami at her side. 

“I-I knew it!” whispered Fukawa from behind Naegi, causing him to jump in surprise. He hadn’t known that the demon girl was behind him. “T-They’re waaaay more than just friends…. That succubus is out to take my Byakuya-sama!”

Kuwata scoffed. “Hardly. That girl, a succubus? If anything, she’d just be a regular old demon,” he remarked. “She’s way too gothic ‘n creepy and shit to be a succubus.”

Fukawa looked offended. “A-Are you calling me a creep!? Tell me!” she demanded. 

The incubus frowned, not having realized the implication of his comment until just that moment. “That ain’t what I meant and you know it,” he responded. “Anyway, I think I’m gonna get myself something to drink as well, maybe a nice soda.” Kuwata pulled himself up and opened up the backpack sitting beside him, fishing around for his wallet with a frown. “Hey, where did my wallet go? …Wait… Damn it, Hagakure! Not this shit again!”

After watching the Super High School Level Baseball Player jump to his feet and run off in a frantic search for Hagakure, Naegi decided to stand up and talk a walk around. He was interested in seeing what the others were up to. He noted that basically no one was in the water right now; save for Oowada who was swimming laps while Ishimaru shouted from his place on the lifeguard chair. The human boy began to pace around the beach, the hot sand seeping between his toes. 

Naegi spotted Fujisaki, Asahina, and Oogami observing a bush of tropical flowers beside a tree. Fujisaki was bent down, speaking softly to the growing flowers. 

“I-I see,” Fujisaki spoke. “It must be hard for you to be growing in the shade of this tree… you don’t get all the sunlight you can, but… maybe it’s better that you don’t. I always get thirsty when it’s too bright outside, and you guys don’t have legs.”

Naegi blinked. Could Fujisaki really speak to plants? If so, what were the flowers saying? How odd that flowers could talk.

“O-Oh! I wanted to introduce you guys two my friends, Oogami-san and Asahina-san,” Fujisaki informed the flowers, moving so that the two girls were in view. 

Asahina looked stunned. “Wow! You can really talk to plants!” she exclaimed. “Hello, I’m Aoi Asahina, the Super High School Level Swimmer! I’m a naiad, which doesn’t make it entirely fair that I’m the Super High School Level Swimmer, but not all naiads are as good at swimming as I am!” she introduced. “Ah, and this is Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan is the Super High School Level Fighter, so she’s super strong! I bet she’s even the strongest person in the whole world, but she doesn’t seem to think so.”

Oogami just nodded in response. “I have a lot of work to do until I can truly bear that title,” she told the plants.

Fujisaki bent closer to the plants, listening carefully. “Ah! T-The flowers say they think you’re both really impressive… and that you’re really pretty, Oogami-san!” she told the girls.

The Super High School Level Fighter looked puzzled. “Surely they meant Asahina,” she responded.

“No way!” proclaimed Asahina, grabbing onto Oogami’s hand. “Sakura-chan is beautiful! The flowers are totally right!”

Flustering a bit, Oogami looked down. “I have not been told that in centuries,” she stated.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, Naegi noted. He took another glance around. Ikusaba was on the beach with Enoshima, chatting about one thing or another. Togami and Celestia had gone back to work on whatever it was shinigami had to do, and Fukawa was once again keeping a close eye on them, looking out for any evidence that the two of them were more than just coworkers. Naegi was sure that it was just in her head, since he couldn’t really see Togami being a romantic, or Celestia for that matter. Oowada was still swimming and Ishimaru was quite concentered with this matter, for whatever reason, for he was now standing on the lifeguard chair and pointing at him, shouting something. People were really enjoying themselves, weren’t they? Everyone except for one person…

Naegi directed his attention towards Kirigiri, who had taken her spot under the same tree as before. She was adorning her trench coat and sunglasses with her parasol at her side, ready for use if she ever decided to step out into the sun. She was no doubt bored, even though it was impossible to read her expression. He couldn’t help but feel his heart break a little at the sight of the girl. Due to her species, it was completely impossible for her to enjoy a day at the beach, something that he loved. Would she too love it if it were possible for her to join in…?

The boy frowned. Being a vampire didn’t sound very fun. Vampires couldn’t go out in the sunlight and they only drank blood, so they never got to taste anything else. Living a life like that was extremely limiting, even for the benefits of being stronger and having a much longer lifespan. Come to think of it, did vampires live longer than humans in real life? That was just something he assumed based off of books and movies. That didn’t seem like much of a tradeoff regardless.

Poor Kirigiri, he thought to himself. He wanted her to join him on the beach, but it just wasn’t possible, was it?

“What’s up, Naegi-kun?” a voice from behind him interrupted his thoughts. Naegi turned around to meet the deep blue eyes of Sayaka Maizono, staring at him in concern. “You look really upset. It’s a field trip, so we should have fun together, right?”

Naegi smiled slightly at the witch. “I’m fine, don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I’m not really sure about Kirigiri-san, though.”

Maizono turned her attention towards the vampire, tilting her head. “She looks really sad,” she Super High School Level Idol observed. Though it was impossible to tell the detective’s emotions from here, Maizono had always had a good intuition when, so Naegi didn’t doubt her assumption. “I guess it’s because she can’t really play with the rest of us. My spell just wasn’t enough to protect her from the sunlight here, huh?” She sighed. “I’ll just have to keep practicing. I want Kirigiri-san to be happy as well!”

Brightening up, the Super High School Level Good Luck turned to Maizono. “You think you could help me out, then?” he asked her. “I want to try to get Kirigiri-san involved with the rest of us. Maybe you could use some magic to help out!”

Maizono smiled and nodded. “Of course! She’s my friend as well, you know!” she replied. “But you know, I don’t think that we can use my magic here. I think that we need to come up with another solution. There’s really only one spell to help a vampire with the sunlight, and I’m not perfect at it yet, especially not with this kind of light.”

Puzzled, Naegi scratched his head. “What do you think we should do then?” he asked.

“Well, there are natural solutions as well!” the witch reminded him. “It’s all about getting Kirigiri-san to be able to play on the beach, right? Well, all we need to do is get rid of the sunlight, and we’ll be all good to go.”

“You mean something like visiting the beach at night?” he asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m getting at,” Maizono affirmed. “I think we should invite her to come to the beach at night and we can all hang out there and build sandcastles and stuff. Don’t you think that would be a good idea?”

Whenever Naegi thought of beach vacations, it was usually all about hanging out during the day with perfectly clear weather, but there was really nothing wrong with hanging around the beach at night. Sure, it would be dark, but then there would be stars in the sky to look up at, as well as much more quiet and peaceful atmosphere, perfect for someone introverted like Kirigiri. This could really work! “That’s a great idea!” he proclaimed. “You’re brilliant, Maizono-san!”

Maizono smiled. “I wouldn’t call it brilliance, but thank you, Naegi-kun!” she responded. “It’s so nice of you to be worried about Kirigiri-san. You’ve always been a really kind guy, even back in middle school.”

Naegi blinked. “I still can’t believe you remembered me,” he told her, recalling when the two of them first met in this academy. She had instantly recognized the boy and proclaimed that she had always thought he was a human, to which Naegi had to assure her he really was. 

“Of course I remember you!” Maizono shouted. “I mean, you nursed that crane that was stuck in the school pool back to health. I always thought about how kind that was and tried to talk to you, but it didn’t really work out.”

Now that was something that Naegi remembered well. There had been a day at school where a crane had become trapped in the pool. Feeling sorry for the creature, the human boy rescued it and made sure that everything was all right, that it was in good enough health to take off and be free like any bird should. Apparently, this was something Maizono had taken notice of, though he hadn’t known at the time. Blushing, Naegi rubbed the back of his head. “T-That’s very flattering coming from you, Maizono-san,” he told her.

The idol laughed. “You get embarrassed quite easily!” she teased. “But especially around Kirigiri-san, I’ve noticed.”

Shocked, Naegi’s mouth gaped open. “W-What?!” he gasped out.

“I’m teasing you,” Maizono informed him, once again laughing to herself. “But it’s partially true, you know! I can tell you like her a lot from the way you react when she’s close to you.” The witch girl gave the boy a wink. “Trust me, I know. I’m an esper.”

“Aren’t you a witch?” he responded, puzzled.

To this, Maizono once again smiled. “Of course I’m a witch. I just have good intuition,” she joked.

Flustering, the human boy fidgeted. “Kirigiri-san is my friend,” he stated. “I… I don’t think it’s really anything more than that.”

The Super High School Level Idol shrugged. “Maybe, but that’s what my intuition is telling me, and my intuition hasn’t failed me before.” She glanced back at Kirigiri, who had not moved once inch from her spot under the tree. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter if you like her in that way or not, right now we should be just be concerned about helping her!”

Naegi was thankful that the girl decided to drop the topic. Maizono really was a sweet girl, wasn’t she?

Maizono wasted no time. She instantly approached the vampire girl, looking down upon her with a bright smile. “Kirigiri-san!” she greeted instantly. “Naegi-kun and I were thinking… we feel sort of sorry that you can’t participate in class games with everyone else, so we want you to come with us after dinner tonight to the beach to play some games!”

Kirigiri looked up, but her expression was, of course, unreadable. “Games?” she asked.

“Yeah! We can build sandcastles or hunt for seashells and stuff, but it would be at night so you wouldn’t have to hide,” Maizono elaborated. 

The detective put a hand to her chin. “…Who would be there?” she asked.

“Well, Naegi-kun and I, of course,” the witch began. “We could also invite some other people as well! I heard that Ishimaru-kun and Oowada-kun wanted to do a rematch of the sand castle contest, so we can bring them with us and they could do that. I don’t know who else would be willing, really.” She pondered the options. “I guess Oogami-san and Asahina-san would be okay with coming, too! They might want to go for a late night swim. I heard those are very relaxing.”

A small smile appeared on Kirigiri’s face, much to Naegi’s relief. “Sounds interesting. I would be up for it,” she told the two of them.

Naegi brightened instantly. “That’s great!” he cried out. “Then we’ll meet after dinner, all right?”

To this, Kirigiri nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you then.”

As promised, that night, Naegi went to the beach. The waves were still rolling just as usual, but there was just a completely different atmosphere at night, which made it peaceful in a mysterious sort of way. There was not a single cloud in the sky and the bright stars burning millions of miles away were reflected upon the dark sea’s waves, the ripples in the water glistening. Somewhere nearby, crickets were chirping, but not loud enough to be disruptive. The human boy stood right where the sea met the ocean’s waves, the water tickling his shoes. Ever since he learned of the existence of the supernatural, the night just seemed more and more ominous to him. Around the world, monsters were stirring from their slumber, creeping out onto the streets, away from oblivious humans. 

“Naegi-kun!” Maizono shouted cheerfully. The girl dashed up to him. “I brought Oowada-kun, Ishimaru-kun, and Fujisaki-san!”

Sure enough, behind the witch girl were Oowada, Ishimaru, and Fujisaki. Ishimaru stood firmly, crossing his arms and giving the human a nod. “Good evening to you, Naegi-kun! I know you are not truly in any danger, but one should be careful when wandering at night,” he warned. 

“Oh shut it, he doesn’t need to worry about a damn thing,” Oowada grumbled. “You’ve got a damn stick up your ass, you know? Ain’t nothing out there that’s going to hurt him on this resort. That whole sea monster business was some sort of freak occurrence.”

Fujisaki shuffled nervously, clearly uncomfortable being next to the two of them. She slowly shrunk closer to Maizono’s side, who’s presence she found much more comforting. “I wanted to come help,” she whispered timidly.

Maizono gave the smaller girl a comforting smile. “It’s all right! We’ll all have fun together,” she reassured her.

“Fun?” Oowada repeated. “I’m not here to have fun. I’m here to beat this holy boy at his little sand castle building contest.”

Ishimaru nodded in agreement. “Exactly!” he shouted. “This time, I will be victorious over you!”

“Ha, whatever makes you sleep well at night!” scoffed Oowada. “We’re gonna settle this once and for all, that’s final.”

With that, the two of them plopped themselves on the sand and began to build whatever it was that they were planning, both of them working swiftly yet cautiously. It seemed they had taken what Jin Kirigiri had said to heart.

“Oh, where’s Kirigiri-san?” Naegi asked, glancing around. He looked everywhere, but it appeared the vampire was nowhere in sight. Had she somehow forgotten about their promise?

Maizono frowned. “Oh, is she not here yet?” she asked. “I thought she would be here by now…”

Not a moment afterwards, a voice spoke up from behind them. “I’m right here,” Kirigiri’s voice spoke up. Turning around, Naegi spotted the vampire, who was dressed in her usual after school attire rather than her outdoor wear. “Sorry for showing up a little bit late. I had to change,” she informed both of them. 

Naegi’s face lit up. “Kirigiri-san!” he shouted, eyes glimmering. “You really came!”

“Of course I did, Naegi-kun,” Kirigiri responded. “You’re doing this for me, after all, it would be rude if I were to not show.”

“This is great!” Maizono declared. “Everything is all set, then! We should figure out what we want to do first.” The witch glanced towards the angel and the werewolf, who by now had managed to get their castles to a decent size. “We could build castles like Oowada-kun and Ishimaru-kun, but they don’t have to be as… intense,” she suggested, staring at them. 

Kirigiri pondered this. “I’m not sure, I’ve never really been one for creating or building things,” she responded. “I think it would be nice, however, to take a walk along the shore and look at the seashells. Whenever I went to the beach as a child, that was what I was interesting in doing, rather than playing in the sand or going for a swim.”

“Of course!” Naegi responded instantly. Whatever Kirigiri wanted to do sounded good to him. 

Fujisaki looked accepting of this idea as well. “That sounds like it could be a lot of fun!” she agreed. “I already built a sandcastle the other day, so I think this is better.”

Maizono looked down at the dryad. “In that case, do you want to come look for shells with me, Fujisaki-san?” she asked the girl, holding her hand out. “I think I saw a really pretty one a little ways down.”

Fujisaki nodded enthusiastically. “Sure!” she responded, smiling. “I-I think I might have seen the one you are talking about too!”

With that, the two of them went off further down the beach to go look for the shell they had seen previously, leaving Kirigiri behind with Naegi. Before leaving completely, Maizono turned to Naegi and gave him a small, knowing wink, causing him to fluster in confusion. Did she leave the two of them alone on purpose? Geez, and he thought she had dropped all this teasing about the two of them…! Still, he didn’t mind being alone with the girl. There was a lot for them to talk about, after all.

Kirigiri glanced towards the boy. “Shall we do the same?” she asked. “Perhaps we should look in a different area and let the two of them cover what lies on that side.”

“Sure!” he responded. “Let’s do that. It sounds like a good idea.”

The vampire made for the direction opposite of Fujisaki and Maizono, walking along the beach and observing the shells that rested by the water. She occasionally would squat down and collect one, staring at it in the palm of her gloved hand as if she was going over every single tiny detail it had to offer in her hand. Perhaps that was what she was doing. She was a detective, after all, and detectives were all about the details and had a fine eye. Occasionally, she would stuff a seashell into her pocket if she really admired it, but usually she would simply set the shell back where she found it. Naegi, on the other hand, found every single seashell he set his eyes upon to be interesting. There was something unique about each one of them, the way that they sparkled (or didn’t) in the light of the stars, the colors that they were decorated in, and even the small cracks and chips in them. It just intrigued him, and he found that the pockets of his hoodie were now full with random seashells. He just had to keep all of them!

Kirigiri spotted the shells nearly tumbling out of the human boy’s pockets and looked rather amused. “You seem to be enjoying this,” she commented. “Do you like all of them?”

Naegi laughed slightly. “Yeah,” he responded. “I just find them all unique in their own sort of way, you know? None of them are really prettier than the others.”

“That’s quite the way of looking at it,” the vampire admired. “It shows a lot about the way you think.”

“Really?” Naegi replied. “You can tell that just by seashells?”

Kirigiri nodded. “There’s a lot you can tell about a person by the small details, like the way they dress or the way they collect sea shells. I can tell that you’re the type of person to see the good in anything. You can see the uniqueness of each seashell despite some people overlooking ones in favor of those with brighter colors, or anything of the like. In other words, you’re an optimist,” she described. “You can see through a bad situation and find the light. That’s just the kind of person you are, Naegi-kun.”

Well, if there was one feature that stood out about him, it was his optimism. Naegi was known to be more optimistic than most people, even though he didn’t have a talent to call his own or even any achievements to brag about. She had hit it spot on.

“Your talent is very impressive,” Naegi complimented. “I guess I do consider myself to be an optimist, at least more so than most people.”

Kirigiri smiled. “One of the perks that comes with being a detective,” she told him. “Observation and analysis is key.”

Hope’s Peak Academy was a school for students with talent, and while he had been bestowed the title of Super High School Level Good Luck, Naegi couldn’t exactly call it accurate or a talent. Kirigiri, on the other hand, was obviously a talented detective. Really, compared to her, he was hardly anything of note, but he didn’t entirely mind that. He was just happy to be able to be close to her and talk to her about it. Still, the whole concept of talent was something that bothered him slightly, as the one student in the class that didn’t exactly have a talent to call his own, not to mention being the only human. Come to think of it, he hadn’t exactly talked to Kirigiri much about being a detective. Why hadn’t he asked her?

“Do you solve murders?” Naegi had to ask, suddenly taking an interest in the girl’s work. “Like, you know, the detectives on TV.”

Kirigiri nodded. “I do,” she told him. “But it’s not as simple as they make it on TV. There are a lot of details and skills you need to pick up along the way, it’s not just a matter of dusting for a fingerprint, finding a match, and then arresting a person.”

“Right, and I guess it’s a lot more dangerous in real life, too,” the boy figured.

“I’ve been through a lot,” she answered simply. “Some jobs are more dangerous than others, but my grandfather is a very protective man, so he attempts to keep me out of such things.”

Her grandfather, huh? This was the first time she had brought him up. Perhaps she had a better relationship with her grandfather than her father?

Kirigiri looked off at the waves, watching the patterns of the ripples. Her eyes slowly drifted towards the moon in the sky, only half lit. She appeared to be in thought, so Naegi allowed her to think while secretly admiring her from a short distance.

Finally, the girl broke the silence she had created. “What about you, Naegi-kun?” she asked. “What’s it like to be the Super High School Level Good Luck?”

She was interested in something like that…? “There’s really nothing to it,” Naegi told her, frowning. He felt bad giving her such a disappointing answer, when she had much more interesting things to tell him. “I think it’s a mismatch for me. I’m not particularly lucky. I mean, I got sent to a school full of supernatural creatures by accident and I almost got killed the other day. The resort owner even said that he took preventive measures against sea monsters, but one still managed to get in and attack me. That’s really just Super High School Level Bad Luck more than anything.”

“How interesting,” she responded, surprising the boy. “The existence of a Super High School Level Good Luck at Hope’s Peak has always been a strange one. What could an academy possibly stand to gain from researching something like luck…? Luck is just a concept, no one knows if it truly exists. It’s very strange.” She eyed the human boy. “Though, I must admit, you do seem prone to bad luck. But don’t you enjoy being at this school?” she inquired.

“I do,” he responded instantly. “It’s just weird, sometimes. I’m just an average human surrounded by talented monsters. I don’t exactly fit in with the crowd.”

“I think you fit in,” Kirigiri responded. “You fit in better than I do, or better than Mukuro Ikusaba does. You’re practically friends with everyone here, yet there are students like her and I who have only one or two. It’s not a matter of talent or species.”

Naegi pondered this. He was friends with pretty much everyone in the class (with the exception of Togami, who was completely disinterested in the very concept of friendship) which could not be said for Kirigiri or even Ikusaba. 

“I guess that’s one way of putting it,” the boy answered. “It’s just that in terms of talent and species, I’m the odd one out in the entire school.”

“Talent and species…” Kirigiri repeated to herself. “Is that what you’re worried about, Naegi-kun? Your lack of an impressive talent and the fact that you’re human?”

Naegi hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s been really worrying me, it’s just something that makes me feel a bit out of place at times. …I mean, I guess you can say it worries me a bit.”

The vampire spun around and faced the boy, looking at him dead in the eye. “You should be glad for those things,” she told him. “I told you that you were the type of person to see the good in bad, so you should understand better than anyone else that your lack of talent and humanity is something you should treasure.”

Should he…? Naegi thought a bit about this. It was true that they had this discussion before, right after Jin had called him to his office and Kirigiri had somehow persuaded her father to let the human boy stay and attend the school. Being human was a gift. But did that apply to being talentless…?

“People who attend this academy both benefit from their talent and suffer great amounts for it,” Kirigiri began to speak, gazing off into the moon. “We are revered for our abilities but challenged because of what expectations society has for us. Hope’s Peak Academy is about using the talents of the students for the future ‘hope’ of the world, but… Being ‘hope’ is quite the responsibility. They expect a lot out of our abilities. That being said, it’s not entirely easy to become talented, especially at this age.” She shifted slightly, placing a hand to her chin. “Talents are developed through hard work, some work much too hard for a mere child. Take Maizono-san, for example. I don’t understand everything about her history, but I know she fought hard for the spot she has now,” she explained, then shifting her attention across the beach at the witch girl in the distance. “She simply didn’t become an idol because she wanted to, she had to climb to the top and did whatever it took to reach that. It was most likely a brutal path, I don’t even want to imagine it.”

Was that true? Looking at Maizono, Naegi could only imagine her being kind to anyone, and he didn’t picture her as the type to cause harm. He would have to ask the witch herself later, but all he could do for now was listen to Kirigiri.

“I too have suffered for the sake of being the Super High School Level Detective,” Kirigiri spoke. “From the moment I was born, I was destined to take the path of a detective. That’s simply what it means to be a Kirigiri, or so my grandfather told me. He taught me everything I knew and made sure to drill it into my head, and while I knew that he cared for me deeply, sometimes it was a bit too much. I spent entire days researching and solving cases without doing much of anything else, as if being a detective was all that ever mattered in the first place. I felt like a machine, like my only purpose was to take the name of the Kirigiri family into my hands and become the greatest detective anyone had ever seen. My grandfather told me that I was his prodigy and I had talent he had never seen before from someone my age, so I knew I had to do it. I couldn’t stray from my chosen path. But I never had a choice in the matter.” She sighed. “That’s what it means to have a talent… to devote your entire being to it and fight for the spot on top. You have no choice but to look into the future and see yourself still on that path years and years from now. But you, Naegi-kun, I know you still have a choice. You can still become someone great, but you aren’t restrained. You haven’t had to fight for your spot at Hope’s Peak Academy like me, or like most anyone else here. That’s why you’re lucky, even if you don’t think you are. Perhaps being the Super High School Level Good Luck is the best talent of them all.” She ran her gloved hands through her hair, making sure the slight breeze didn’t cause her hair to obscure her view. “Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

Naegi took this information in. She had revealed so much in just a few minutes, and it was kind of baffling. She was right, though. He hadn’t had to fight to become the Super High School Level Good Luck nor did he suffer any hardship for it. But Kirigiri… he could only imagine what she had to do to be recognized as the Super High School Level Detective.

“You know what the truly unfortunate part is?” the girl continued on. “I have only benefited from my transformation into a vampire. I have heightened senses and can see in the dark easily, which makes my work as a detective significantly easier. I can find evidence that no one else can through my abilities. One man who worked at the detective agency even told my grandfather that it was good that I became a vampire. …He was angry, of course, but now I’m sure even he thinks I’m better off as a vampire. There have been cases I have solved through my senses and abilities that I could not have as a human.” She looked down at her gloved hand for some strange reason and moved her fingers about. “I hate it. I don’t like being a vampire but it’s done nothing but good for me. So even if I had the choice to go back, it would be better if I just remained the way I am.”

Naegi listened to the Super High School Level Detective’s ramblings with a small frown on his face. He truly felt sorry for the girl, and in that moment, he realized how blessed he was to still be human, even if his talent was something like Super High School Level Good Luck. Maybe that sort of life was for the best. He didn’t know how much he would be able to handle having a talent that everyone else admired and fought for. 

“It’s useless to think about,” she added on. “There is no cure for vampirism. People have done research and the end result is that it’s completely impossible.” She sighed once again. “…Forgive me, Naegi-kun. I’m speaking a lot today, and I know I shouldn’t,” Kirigiri apologized. “I should stop now, before I start saying things I know I will regret.”

“It’s all right!” Naegi responded enthusiastically, smiling at the girl. “I enjoy hearing you talk, Kirigiri-san. You can tell me anything you want.”

Kirigiri smiled. “Thank you for that, but I will keep the rest to myself for now,” she told him. “There are plenty of feelings that I have that I do not wish to share with anyone. Maybe there will be a day when that changes, but it’s not today. …But I still thank you for hearing me out and for taking me to the beach like this.”

Crouching down to the ground, Kirigiri reached out as if she was going to touch the sea waves, but drew her hand back at the last second. “…I suppose there are things I miss about being human,” she told him. “But it’s not good to dwell on such things when there’s nothing that can come of it.”

Naegi was just glad that she had enjoyed herself, so he nodded and decided to accept her feelings. He had learned a lot more about her today, and there was no reason to push her to say things she did not wish to tell him. Just being there for her was good enough for him. Carefully, the boy lowered himself to the shore as well, crouching beside Kirigiri. His hand tentatively reached out to hers, much to the vampire’s surprise. 

“…Hm…?” she spoke out, looking at his hand. Curiously, she reached for his and grasped his human hand in her gloved palm, holding onto him tightly. The leather of her gloves was cold, causing Naegi to be slightly taken aback. She was always wearing those gloves… perhaps she just liked them? 

“…Thank you, Kirigiri-san,” Naegi told her, looking at her lilac eyes. “I think I understand now.”

With a nod, Kirigiri grinned. “You’re welcome, Naegi-kun,” she replied simply.

Being human was something that he should treasure. That was something that he had already realized from his previous conversation with Kirigiri. But now, he had to wonder… was having a talent something that he was jealous of? Or, rather, was it something that he should be jealous of? Sure, he was just an ordinary guy, but perhaps that was something that he enjoyed about himself. Maybe there was some truth to his Super High School Level Good Luck title after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for Christmas I got a new wireless keyboard to replace that awful one my laptop has, and it's made writing SO MUCH EASIER. You should have seen my laptop one. The keys were all falling off and some were missing and it made writing a nightmare. Now I can finally write easily. Thank god. My life is completed.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! I liked this chapter, personally! As always, leave a comment telling me what you think and a kudo!


	12. Losing Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a short chapter. It's not.

The next morning, all the students gathered to the hotel lobby to have breakfast together. As usual, it was in a buffet style, with what looked like endless amounts of dishes piled up in the center table. Naegi stared at the different kinds of foods. His mouth was hung open in awe, though unable to totally process what was going on. He had been up late that night, much later than he was allowed to back at Hope’s Peak Academy, where he had a strict curfew as a part of the negotiation for him to remain as a student there. After having his discussion with Kirigiri, he had reunited with Fujisaki and Maizono, where they all showed off the shells they had collected.

By the time they had finished that, Ishimaru and Oowada had not yet completed their duel. The plan was to leave once the two of them were done, but it seemed to continue endlessly, to the point where they both just dismissed the others. The result of the event was still unknown to Naegi, but he wasn’t exactly thinking about that. 

“Wow!” Asahina gushed, staring at the plates. “There’s so much to eat, I don’t even know where to begin!”

“Don’t eat too much, Asahina,” Oogami reminded the naiad. “Yesterday, you were sick for an hour…”

“Oh, yeah, that was a thing!” Asahina remembered. “Thank you for taking care of me by the way, Sakura-chan!”

Oogami nodded. “It’s no issue.” The Super High School Level Fighter went over to the table and picked out a few donuts for the naiad, handing them to her, while she simply brewed herself one of her favorite protein coffees. She claimed that protein coffee helped her train further, but Naegi wasn’t entirely sure whether or not such a thing could have a huge impact. Not that he had ever tried training or drinking protein coffee himself. 

Shifting back to the table, Naegi decided to try a donut for himself. He picked one randomly off the table and took a small bite, smiling at the sugary flavor that filled his mouth. These were really good! No wonder Asahina was such a huge fan of them. 

“Careful, if you eat too many of those, you might turn into a naiad!” Enoshima warned Naegi. He hadn’t even noticed that the angel was right next to him! 

Naegi smiled slightly at her joke. “Asahina-san was right, these are really good,” he commented simply, taking another bite. “You should try one too, Enoshima-san.”

Enoshima shrugged. “No thanks, I’m not really into that sugary stuff,” she responded. “It just wasn’t ever my thing.”

“I guess you and Ikusaba-san are alike in that way,” Naegi recalled, thinking back to how Ikusaba had refused his offer of chocolate cake due to her allergy. Well, it was sort of not the same thing, but the boy figured Ikusaba wasn’t a fan of sweets either. It just didn’t really suit her. 

“Aha! I guess you’re right,” she replied. “Mukuro and I aren’t alike at all, though. She’s all quiet and athletic and stuff. That’s really not like me at all.” She stretched her arms and wings out, the huge wingspan nearly knocking Naegi’s side. “She’s got a sweet side to her, though, even if it doesn’t look like it.”

Naegi blinked. “A sweet side,” he repeated. “I mean, I think Ikusaba-san is a good person.”

Enoshima laughed. “You don’t even know half of it,” she remarked. “Anyway, I’m gonna go bother her. See you around, human boy!”

With that last joke, the angel walked off to go talk to Ikusaba, who was standing in the corner as usual, not bothering to engage in any conversation. Naegi figured it would be a good idea to go follow her, but then noted that Ikusaba seemed to want some time to herself. Maybe it would be better to try to talk to her at another time. 

Naegi walked over to the wall and leaned his back up against it, letting out a huge sigh and closing his eyes. It was too early for him to be up for the amount of sleep he had gotten. Maybe he would spend the day resting on a towel when they went to the beach. That seemed much more appealing than swimming. He reminded himself next time to not stay up so late, especially since so much time had been spent waiting for Ishimaru and Oowada to finish their never ending sandcastle competition. 

His rest didn’t last too long, though. Shortly after, Maizono approached the boy, grinning brightly. “Good morning, Naegi-kun!” she greeted. “I guess you’re still tired from last night, huh?”

Naegi’s eyes blinked open. “Oh, hello, Maizono-san!” he responded. “I stayed up a little too late. I really should have gone to bed after we had finished collecting the seashells.”

Maizono shrugged. “It seemed to work out well for Ishimaru-kun and Oowada-kun,” she responded, nodding her head in the direction of the two boys.

When Naegi redirected his attention to Oowada and Ishimaru, he found himself staring at quite the strange sight. Oowada had his arm around the around the angel, resting it on his shoulder while he laughed hysterically at something the other student had just said. “You’ve got that right, brother!” he declared in between his laughter. “The bonds between men are stronger than anyone could ever hope to imagine, man! They’re even tougher than a diamond!”

“That’s exactly right, brother!” Ishimaru agreed. “No one truly understands a man’s bond until they experience it first hand!”

Confused, Naegi continued to stare. Just last night, they had been hurling insults at each other as they built their sandcastles up taller than anyone could imagine. What in the world had happened after he had left?

Oowada seemed to have caught sight of the boy. “Yo, Naegi!” he greeted, flashing him a thumbs up. “I gotta thank you for having us last night. Me and my bro enjoyed it!”

Blinking slowly, the human boy nodded. “Uh, um,” he started. “What… what are you two doing? You were fighting just last night…”

Ishimaru simply laughed at his confusion. “Ahaha! Naegi-kun, do you not understand? The best friendships bloom through competition! That is what I’ve always thought!” he announced loudly, though it was obvious that what he had said was a lie. That was probably something he had just come up with at that moment. “So we must thank you for observing our competition last night! Thank you very much, Naegi-kun!”

“…But I didn’t do anything,” he whispered to himself. All he had really done was sit there for about an hour while he watched them build their sandcastles. The one who had invited them to the beach in the first place was Maizono! Shaking his head, he decided to just go along with it. “…Err… you’re welcome. I guess that’s good to hear.” He hesitated. “…Who won in the end, anyway?”

For some reason, this seemed to hit a nerve in Oowada. “What the hell, man!?” he shouted, his voice shaking the lobby. “That kind of shit doesn’t matter! Who the hell cares who won?”

Ishimaru nodded sternly. “I agree! What matters is the aftermath of the duel!” he replied. “My bro is totally right again!”

Rubbing the back of his head, Naegi just nodded and decided it was better to just remain quiet and not bother the two of them. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on and to be honest it was a bit creepy. Maybe they were right that he had no hope of understanding a so-called “man’s bond.” How was it different from just two men being friends…?

Oh, no. Maybe something else was up... No, that was stupid. Naegi hit himself in the head to shut his mind up. There was no way something like that could happen so quickly. …Or was there? No! He was being ridiculous. …But what if he wasn’t?

“…Uh, Naegi-kun?” Maizono spoke out, clearly having seen him hit himself in the head. “Are… are you okay?”

“...Oh, I’m fine!” Naegi responded, realizing how oddly he had been acting. “Sorry about that, I was uh, just a bit confused.”

Maizono tilted her head. “I’m a bit confused myself, to be honest,” she remarked. “But… that’s not what I came to talk to you about.”

“Hm? What did you want to talk about?” the boy asked. He had assumed that the witch had just wanted to come talk to him for the sake of chatting, but maybe that wasn’t it.

“I think Kirigiri-san was really happy with what we did last night,” Maizono told him, smiling. Her eyes focused across the room, resting on Kirigiri, who standing in the corner sipping a can of blood. “She had a lot of fun, I could tell! So I think that tonight, you should do it again. Bring her back out to the beach and hang out with her. But this time, I’m not going to come with you, so it’ll be just the two of you, all right?” 

Flustering, Naegi contemplated this. “B-But why?” he had to ask. “I think Kirigiri-san enjoyed having you and Fujisaki-san around as well!”

Maizono giggled. “You get so easily flustered,” she commented. “But I think Kirigiri-san really had the most fun with you, Naegi-kun. It seemed like she really enjoyed being near you and talking to you, so I want you to hang out with her on your own. You two are friends, right? There should be no problem!”

Well, yes, it was true that they were friends, but the idea of hanging out with someone alone on a beach at night just seemed… well… romantic. He wondered if Maizono was playing matchmaker with him. “…I guess so,” he finally responded. “I just have to ask her about it before I decide anything.”

This prompted a large grin from the witch. “All right!” she shouted. “I’ll take care of that right now.”

As soon as she finished her sentence, Maizono strode across the room and tapped Kirigiri on the shoulder, interrupting her meal. “Hello, Kirigiri-san!” she started. “Naegi-kun was wondering if you wanted to hang out with him tonight at the beach, just like last night.”

Naegi was taken aback by this phrasing. What was she saying!? It sounded like she was asking Kirigiri out on a date for him…! What if she interpreted it that way…? He needed to stop thinking like this. Kirigiri was his friend, and she had told him to forget about her almost kissing him, which meant that she clearly wasn’t interested. He was completely fine with that, so he really had to stop having these strange thoughts.

Kirigiri didn’t seem to care, however. “That would be fine,” she told Maizono. “I quite enjoyed myself last night.”

A sigh of relief passed through Naegi’s lips. For some reason, he had been expecting her to reject him. What a silly thought, he told himself. 

Maizono turned her gaze towards Naegi, giving him a nod. Everything was set! 

After a day of hanging out at the beach and spending most of his time attempting to nap on a beach towel while his classmates played around and yelled at each other, Naegi found himself sitting in front of the ocean as the stars glimmered down on the waves. It was rather late, but he had to admit he wasn’t tired. Though most of his naps had ended in failure, he had managed to get in some sleep, which kept him going through the day. He had to admit that Ishimaru and Oowada sure were loud today. What had happened between them after he left? Maybe it was best if he never knew the answer to that question.

Sighing, he looked off into the distance. The ocean was mesmerizing at night, and became all the more mysterious. There was so much about the ocean he didn’t understand, and since he had learned about the existence of supernatural creatures, there was now even more he had to learn. What if there were mermaids hanging out a few miles away from him? What kinds of sea monsters were there, and where was the one that had attacked him? Maybe it was better if humans didn’t explore the ocean anymore.

“Naegi-kun, you sure seem interested in the ocean,” Kirigiri remarked, appearing behind him. How long had she been standing there for? “It’s very intriguing. Humans have hardly explored the ocean.”

Naegi stood up, wiping the sand from his pants. “I was just thinking about that,” he admitted. “There’s a lot out there. It just seems more strange now that I know supernatural creatures are real.”

“I thought the same thing when I first discovered their existence as well,” Kirigiri agreed, stepping to stand beside him.

The human boy stared at the girl, who was now gazing into the horizon. It must have been a totally different experience when she had discovered the existence of the supernatural versus when he had. 

“Did you know about them before you became a vampire?” he had to ask. Perhaps it was rude of him, but he was curious. 

“No,” she admitted. “I had no idea. I suppose it was an unpleasant surprise for me when I found myself being bitten by a vampire.”

Blinking, Naegi observed the vampire closely. What had her transformation into a vampire been like for her? Did she suddenly just grow fangs and become sensitive to light? It was somewhat frustrating that he couldn’t ask her about it, since it was probably a very sensitive topic. He had to respect her over his own curiosity. 

“What did you want to do tonight?” Naegi asked her, deciding to shift the topic. “We could go hunting for sea shells again, or maybe we can search for crabs!”

Kirigiri shook her head. “I just want to talk a walk along the shore,” she told him. “I think a nice walk can be a very pleasant experience.”

The human boy nodded his head in agreement. “That sounds good!” he responded. Anything she wanted to do with fine with him, since he had come out here for her sake. “Walks can be really enjoyable.”

The two of them set off along the shore, silently at first with nothing but the gentle roar of the waves audible. Naegi constantly shifted his attention between the vampire girl beside him and the ocean, unable to concentrate. He felt as though if he kept staring at Kirigiri, she might get mad at him, or that he would be acting sort of creepy. There was a fleeting breeze, causing Kirigiri’s light purple strands of hair to dance in the wind. She lightly reached up to her head and brushed the loose hair back down again after the wind had died down, only for another breeze to fill the air and send her hair off into the wind again. There was something so entrancing about it; it was hard for him to keep his eyes off of her. She was a vampire, but she was absolutely beautiful.

When the silence was finally broken, it was Kirigiri who spoke up. “Back when the headmaster wanted you to leave Hope’s Peak Academy, I defended you,” she recalled. “I thought you enjoyed it here. I wanted to have you here. But yesterday, you told me you felt as though you didn’t fit in. Did I do the wrong thing?”

Naegi frowned, wondering if this was something that had been on her mind for a while. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he reassured her. “I want to be at this academy. I don’t think I could have taken it if I had been suddenly sent back to a human academy and told to forget about what I had seen here. My curiosity would have bothered me for ages.” He shrugged. “I suppose I feel a bit better about what you said yesterday, though.”

Kirigiri blinked. “Which part? The part about being human?” she asked.

“Well, all of it,” he responded honestly. “I know it’s kind of weird that I’m a human and everyone else isn’t, but I’m not jealous of anyone here. Being human has its perks, even if I don’t have special powers like Maizono-san. I mean, it would be really fun if I could use magic or something, but I guess I’m fine with the way things are now. I don’t think I would want to change it.”

“That’s good,” she replied instantly. “I’m glad you feel that way, Naegi-kun. I think you’re getting along well with the other classmates, from my observations.”

Observations…? Well, she was a detective, it was only natural for her to observe the actions of others and interpret them. Like she had said yesterday, that was pretty much her way of getting to know someone, like how she was able to tell that Naegi was an optimist by the way he collected seashells. 

“I’ve noticed that you interact equally with everyone,” she told him. “Recently, you’ve been with Ikusaba-san more. I suppose that the two of you have become friends?”

Not wanting to delve into all the details, Naegi nodded. “Yup, we became friends just recently,” he informed her. “She’s pretty interesting, even though there’s a lot I don’t really understand about her.”

“She’s a mystery,” Kirigiri agreed. “I want to know more about her as well, but as you can see, I am not exactly the type for intensive social interaction, nor is she.” She placed a gloved finger to her chin, as she always did when she was thinking. “What I want to know is how her sister became an angel. Such a thing isn’t an easy feat. Only the purest of souls are accepted into heaven as angels.”

Naegi listened carefully, intrigued by the subject. He had been wondering the same thing himself. “Can humans become angels, then?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “I don’t know all of the details, but humans who have pure souls can obtain angelic powers, but it’s nearly impossible to do such a thing. However, I have to assume that Enoshima-san was born a human, since Ikusaba-san mentioned that she used to be human. If she had been born an angel like Ishimaru-kun, then Ikusaba-san would be one as well.” She crossed her arms under her chest. “So in order to obtain such power, Enoshima-san had to have done something extremely ‘good.’ Who knows what she did, though. I haven’t researched such a topic, but I would ask Oogami-san if you want to know more.”

The human boy was puzzled. “Oogami-san?” he repeated.

“Yes. She would know much more about acceptance into heaven and whatnot. That’s her goal, after all,” she told him.

It was the first time that Naegi had heard of such a thing. He hadn’t really spoken much to Oogami about such things, and she was quite private when it came to talking about her supernatural business and powers. She hardly ever mentioned it at all, now that he thought about it. “I didn’t know that,” he admitted.

"Yes, well, I only know it through observing her actions, so it would be rude to discuss it further,” she replied sternly. “But she would likely know more. I just don’t know how to bring up the topic with her, nor do I think it is exactly a good idea to discuss sensitive topics like that. She clearly does not want to be associated with the supernatural.”

He did feel uncomfortable with talking about Oogami behind her back about her personal life, so he decided to drop that topic as well. “All this angel stuff is confusing,” he told her. “I guess Enoshima-san is just a really good person. She seems pretty nice to me.”

“She has to be if she’s an angel,” Kirigiri agreed. “I haven’t spoken with her one on one, but I believe she is, through my observation.”

There was so much that Naegi was interested in, and yet he felt so rude asking about everything. Maybe it was just human curiosity getting the better of him, since he hardly knew anything of the supernatural world beyond what he had gotten out of a month of history class. Even anime, manga, and books weren’t good source material since there were very many interpretations of supernatural creatures. He would just have to look it up on his own when he got back from this field trip. Online wouldn’t yield any results, but he was sure that they had some legitimate books in the library. 

Suddenly, Kirigiri changed the topic back. “I’m glad you enjoy being here, though. I was beginning to think that I had done the wrong thing after what you said yesterday,” she told him.

Hearing this, Naegi decided to shoot her a bright smile to reassure her. “I love it here!” he declared. “But thank you for being concerned about me, Kirigiri-san. I really appreciate it. You didn’t do the wrong thing, in fact, I’m really happy you came with me at that time! I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t. Maybe the headmaster would have just taken me out of school without hearing me out.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Naegi-kun,” the vampire responded, giving him the slightest of smiles. “Thank you.”

The conversation dropped there. They continued to walk through the dark in silence, the sea breeze occasionally drifting through the air. Eventually, the two of them came to the end of the beach, where a large cliff stopped the sand and the ocean was ridden with rocks. Curiously, Naegi approached the rocky waters and took a tentative step onto a rather large rock that was sitting there. It was slippery, but it was not so much that he had a hard time keeping his balance. The water was trickling through the cracks in the rocks, occasionally bringing with it a piece of seaweed or a shell. Bending down, he picked up a small shell that had drifted its way to the shore and nearly gotten jammed in between two rocks. He lifted it between his two fingers and observed closely, taking note of every single crack it had and the spots where it suddenly changed color. It was a rather unflattering shade of black mixed with maybe a bit of brown, so it was one that would probably be overlooked. However, to Naegi, it was quite beautiful. It was unique in the way that it fractured to halfway down the center but did not shatter completely, and the pattern of the brown speckles decorating it. Perhaps this is what Kirigiri meant when she said he was an optimist who could see the good in anything.

Pocketing the shell, Naegi turned to go back. But then, every single part of him that had thought that his Super High School Level Good Luck title held some bit of truth to it shattered. His foot slipped and he lost his balance, crashing onto the hard rocks. He muttered in pain as he felt a particularly sharp rock scrape up against his knee, ripping the skin away. Muttering about he probably should have paid more attention, he lifted himself from the ground, slightly wet from the ocean. Then, he made his way back to the sandy shore.

“Are you all right, Naegi-kun?” Kirigiri asked, staring at the boy in concern. 

“I’m fine!” he reassured her, gripping his knee. How unlucky he… he had even ripped his pants a bit. The pain was slowly seeping forward, causing him to wince. So much for the Super High School Level Good Luck. Unfortunately, the boy hadn’t realized that the situation was about to get even worse.

Kirigiri slowly approached Naegi, staring at him in the eye with an unreadable expression. What was she thinking? Naegi looked up, giving her a small smile in an attempt to make it look like the pain wasn’t all that bad. Compared to the sea monster’s claws, it really was nothing, but it still hurt. She gave a brief glance to his injury and then looked back to him, reaching her gloved hand out and placing it on his cheek, the cold leather stroking his skin. Flustering, Naegi froze to the spot. This was just like what had happened before after the sea monster had attacked him. 

Slowly, Kirigiri’s face moved closer to his, her hot breath tickling his lips. “K-Kirigiri-san,” he breathed out, his mind jumping around from thinking about the pain in his knee to the girl that was growing closer to him. He didn’t know which emotion to focus on, and he found his face flustering up like a tomato. Was she going to kiss him for real this time? It seemed to be that way, since the girl’s lips were moving closer to his. Closing his eyes, Naegi decided to focus on the sensation of Kirigiri’s face so close to his. He could think about the pain later. All the emotions he had tried to suppress after her request were returning to his mind. Kirigiri was his friend, but she was beautiful, wasn’t she? He wouldn’t mind being kissed by her…

Breathing deeply, Naegi moved his face so that their lips were nearly touching. Kirigiri was always so kind to him… maybe he did have a little bit of a crush on her, he admitted. Still, his heart was pounding in his chest, unable to control itself. He was sure that Kirigiri could feel the beating of his heart against her own chest, which was now pressed to his.

But Kirigiri did not kiss him. Her breath faded from his lips and instead began to trail downwards, towards his neck. Her hand left his cheek and reached to his shoulder, gently tugging his hood out of the way and revealing a patch of skin on his neck. Shivering and still in a daze, Naegi wondered what she was doing. Her face dipped down towards his neck, her breath now tickling his skin. Her nose gently pressed against it, her lips drawing closer. Finally, he felt her lips meet his neck, causing his heart to flutter. Was she kissing him there…? Why not on his lips? 

“Kirigiri-san,” he breathed, his face now a brighter shade of red than he thought was even possible. 

“Naegi-kun,” she whispered into his skin. “Naegi-kun…”

Naegi felt something sharp touch his skin. Flinching, he broke out of his love-struck stupor. Something wasn’t right. Kirigiri opened her mouth partially, and he felt a sharp edge graze his skin, cutting it open. “Kirigiri-san?” he asked. Suddenly, his mind clicked as he made the connection. Those were her fangs. Kirigiri was about ready to bite him.

In a panic, Naegi placed his hands on her shoulders and shoved her away. Fear swirling about in his eyes, he gazed at the girl before him. Kirigiri’s eyes were now a bright, glowing red that were staring directly at him with absolutely no emotion visible. His heart now thumping from not love but panic, Naegi took a step backwards. Was this really Kirigiri?

“Kirigiri-san?” he asked her. “W-What are you doing?”

“Naegi-kun,” she addressed him, taking a step forward. Her tone seemed different, somehow. “I think you know what I’m doing.”

He gulped. “I… I guess I do, but why?” he asked.

The vampire girl paused. One of her gloved hands reached out towards her neck, rubbing her throat. “I’m feeling… thirsty,” she answered. “That’s why I need you to give me some of your blood, Naegi-kun.”

“I don’t have to do that,” he insisted. “Let’s go back to the beach house and get a can of blood from the vending machine.”

Kirigiri shook her head. “That’s no good, Naegi-kun,” she told him, stepping forward. “All my life as a vampire, I’ve only tasted the blood of animals. I’ve never once had human blood… I’ve never even used these fangs for anything.” With each word, she got closer and closer to him, backing him up into the cliff. “But I’m so thirsty now, Naegi-kun. I need to have human blood.”

The boy hesitated. It was true that she didn’t seem like the time to drink human blood, but he hadn’t known that about her. Still, he wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. Kirigiri wasn’t acting like her normal self for some reason. Why had she suddenly gotten into this hungered state? Glancing down, Naegi focused his attention on his torn pants and the blood that was seeping from his knee. Oh, so that was it. Had the scent of his blood driven her to act like this? He had heard about vampires acting strange at the scent of blood in fiction, but perhaps it was real. Now that it came to mind, wasn’t this situation almost the same as what had happened after the sea monster had attacked him? She had tried to kiss him then, when his legs had been torn up and bleeding. 

Oh, Naegi thought to himself. She was never trying to kiss him. She was after his blood. That’s why Jin Kirigiri had stopped her and taken her away. But what had the headmaster done to calm her down? He just had to think this through.

“You’re not acting like yourself,” he remarked. “I’m worried you’ll end up doing something that you’ll regret, Kirigiri-san.”

Kirigiri did not react to this. She was completely controlled by her thirst, unable to really take in what the boy was saying to her. She took several steps forward, placing her hands on Naegi’s shoulders. Her grip on him tightened painfully, causing Naegi to gasp in shock at the vampire’s strength. He swore he could feel his bones breaking under her grip, but luckily she wasn’t that strong. The girl leaned in close to his face as she had done before, tickling his lips with her breath. “Naegi-kun,” she whispered once more. “Please. I need to have your blood.”

Naegi titled his head. She was acting different, sure, but she wasn’t being violent. Even now, she was politely requesting to drink his blood, even if she wasn’t exactly backing down. Maybe that was a good sign? 

“Kirigiri-san,” he addressed her. “I… I can’t let you do that. If you drink my blood, I’ll become a vampire, right? You told me recently that being human was a gift, so I would like to keep that gift. You know that better than anyone else, right?”

The vampire simply shook her head. “I’m still young, Naegi-kun,” she told him. “I haven’t developed venom yet. I can’t transform anyone, even if I bite them. So if I were to drink from you, Naegi-kun, nothing bad would happen…”

Interesting, Naegi thought to himself. He considered his options in his head. Kirigiri looked like she was really thirsty and she was probably suffering, and there were really no drawbacks to her drinking from him, so he had absolutely no problem with allowing her to take some of his blood. A part of him, however, was afraid of what would happen. Would it hurt…? What if she really was venomous and he became a vampire? What if she ended up drinking too much blood? But most of all, what would Kirigiri think when she regained her senses? She had mentioned she had never had human blood before, and Naegi could only assume it was because of her morals. Drinking the blood of humans had to usually be a very violent action, right? It wasn’t like they could just go up to some random human and ask for blood, not like she was doing to him. Maybe in truth, Kirigiri didn’t want this, and it was only her thirst speaking. 

“…Kirigiri-san,” he spoke out once more, looking at her dead in the eye. It was almost hard for him to look into those glowing blood red eyes, but there was still a part of them that was Kyouko Kirigiri. “I can’t let you… because you would be upset if you did, right?”

Kirigiri blinked. “No,” she told him. “I’m extremely thirsty, Naegi-kun…”

“But that’s just your thirst talking right now,” the human boy pointed out. “You’ve made a point to only drink animal blood for this long, right? So if you’re going to give in now, then… you would be upset, I think. Besides, I… I would be happy to give you my blood, Kirigiri-san, but there are a lot of factors I don’t really understand at this time. If I were to ever give you my blood, I would like to know a little more about vampires first. I know you said you weren’t venomous, but I’m still scared.” He shifted slightly, uncomfortable with Kirigiri’s tight grasp. “…Come on, why don’t we go to the beach house? I saw that they had some vending machines there with some silver cans… I guess that’s blood? I’ll buy you one, so don’t worry about it.”

At this point, the vampire removed her hands from his shoulders. She stared at him for a good few seconds, and then darted her eyes down towards the wound on his leg. It was still seeping blood, but perhaps luckily, he wasn’t bleeding horribly. If he had hurt himself more, then would she have been even thirstier? He wasn’t entirely sure, but at least his horrible luck spared him that. The emotion in her blood red eyes were still masterfully concealed, so there was a chance that she might be readying herself to attack him at any moment. …But that wasn’t Kirigiri, was it? Kirigiri was his friend, even in this state. She wouldn’t attack him. He trusted in her more than anything else.

Tentatively, Naegi reached his hand out and grasped Kirigiri’s. “Come on,” he told her gently. “Let’s go.”

She said absolutely nothing as Naegi led the way back up the beach and to the beach house, where the vending machines he had previously seen lay waiting. Naegi managed to fish out some spare change from the pocket of his hoodie and inserted two coins into the machine. Looking up and down the racks, Naegi noticed that there were different flavors of blood. Cow, horse, deer, pig, chicken... How was he supposed to know what Kirigiri wanted? 

“Err... what kind of flavor do you want, Kirigiri-san?” he asked her, looking over his shoulder.

The vampire girl stared back at him, her eyes still red despite the fact that she had visibly calmed down. “…Deer,” she answered.

Naegi selected the numbers listed beneath the deer brand. The machine pushed the can out with a clunk, and he retrieved it from the slot. Swiftly, the boy opened the can with a clicking noise, instantly cringing at the smell that wafted to his nose. The scent of blood was absolutely overpowering and he felt like he wanted to throw up. How could someone possibly like this scent? 

Kirigiri wasted no time. She instantly walked over to Naegi and took the can from him, bringing it to her lips and gulping down the liquid. It did not take her long to finish, and by the time she was done, the red in her eyes had faded back to her lilac color. 

“…Are you all right, Kirigiri-san?” he asked her, the concern in his tone heavily evident. 

“…I’m all right,” Kirigiri responded, staring at the empty aluminum can. What was she thinking…? “…Thank you, Naegi-kun. I apologize for that.”

Perhaps she was expecting a different kind of reaction, but Naegi began to smile brightly. “That’s wonderful!” he cried out. “I was really worried about you back there. You weren’t acting like yourself, and… I thought that if you drank my blood, then you might be upset about it later.”

Kirigiri gave him a firm nod. “That’s correct,” she replied. “I don’t drink human blood, and I never will. I simply lost myself there for a few moments, and I don’t think I could have forgiven myself had I drank your blood. For that, I have to thank you, Naegi-kun.”

The boy approached her without any hesitation or fear. She was Kirigiri, after all, his best friend. “I’m glad I did the right thing, then,” Naegi responded. “But I think that we should take a break for the night. I guess you might be exhausted after that, and I am too, kind of. “ To be honest with himself, the small amount of fear he had in that moment had taken the life out of him. Really, he needed to be in bed right now. “So I’ll see you again tomorrow?”

The detective nodded. “Yes. That sounds good. Good night, Naegi-kun… and thank you once again,” she told him, a small smile appearing on her lips.

“Good night!” he called out to her. Then, he turned and left, leaving the vampire alone in the beach house.

What an eventful night, he thought to himself as he wandered down to the cabins. He had learned a lot about the supernatural and Kirigiri had almost drunk his blood. It explained quite a bit about what had happened earlier with the sea monster, though he had to admit that a part of him was disappointed that she wasn’t, in fact, trying to kiss him. Oh well, he would just have to put those thoughts about her aside for now. What he valued the most was her friendship, and he couldn’t hope for anything else. Besides, he needed to be there by her side more than anything else, right?

Kirigiri didn’t drink human blood. What did that mean…? She acted completely fine once she had taken a sip of animal blood, but was that really enough? Why had she specifically told him that she needed human blood when she was attempting to drink from him…? Concern rose up in his heart. Maybe he had to learn more about vampires after all. After all, something serious might be happening to her…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not satisfied with how that ended but I got all I needed to get out in this chapter, so that's good.
> 
> Please leave a kudo and a comment if you're enjoying this! I love to hear from all of you!


	13. Airplane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a chapter meant to transition between the beach and the upcoming plot, so it's short.

Naegi was not a huge fan of airplanes, or of air travel in general. There was just something about it that always concerned him, even if he knew the chances of death were extremely minimal. Sometimes, when he looked out the window, he would become aware of how high up they were and start feeling sick. Heights wasn’t exactly a thing that he dealt well with, but at least it didn’t bother him enough to refuse going on an airplane at all. However, some of his other classmates did not seem to be dealing with the situation as well as he was.

“We’re going to die, dude!” Hagakure shouted, grasping onto his head and pulling at the mess that he called his hair. “We’re all going to die!”

“Dumbass, you’re already dead!” Kuwata shouted from a few aisles away.

This little reminder seemed to brighten the poltergeist up. “Oh, right!” he remembered. “But we’re still all going to die, dude! Even if I can’t die, Kuwata-chi, you still can!”

Kuwata broke out into a cold sweat. “W-What? That’s stupid!” he shouted back. “W-We ain’t gonna die here! There’s no way!” He glanced forward a few aisles down. “Togami, you’re one of those shinigami things, right? You have like, a list of people who are going to die today. Are we on it?”

Togami pushed his glasses up. “Don’t be an idiot,” he simply responded, refusing to answer the question.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” the incubus demanded. “Are we going to all die today or not?”

“Methinks no one is going to end up dead unless you keep bothering Byakuya Togami-dono,” Yamada commented, wagging his finger tauntingly at Kuwata. “Haven’t you heard of the manga Death Note? All shinigami have a Death Note, you know. They can write your name and cause of death and you’ll just die on the spot!”

Celestia didn’t seem to be amused by his comment. “That’s foolish, Yamada,” she chided him. “Besides, the shinigami in that manga are quite disturbing looking, unless you are implying I look like that.” She turned and gave him one of her sweetest smiles, lacing her hands together. 

“N-No! Of course not!” Yamada shouted. “Miss Celestia Ludenberg is beautiful!”

Frowning, Togami gave his associate a look. “You mean to tell me that you’ve actually read this Death Note?” he asked.

“I was morbidly curious about how humans depict us in such things,” she replied. “Needless to say, I was quite upset by what I found.”

Kuwata interrupted the conversation through his panicked shouting. “Enough about that! I’m totally freaking out over here, man! Don’t you know how unsafe it is in an airplane? Especially with supernatural creatures like us all hanging around! Like, Oowada could totally punch a hole in the wall with his werewolf strength and kill us!”

“The fuck would I do that for?” Oowada called out to him. 

“I don’t know, man, you get pissed off pretty easily!” the incubus called back. “I don’t think it’s unlike you!”

Standing up from his seat despite the fact that the fasten seatbelt signal was on, Oowada clenched his fist into a tight ball. “Why you…!” he shouted. 

“See, just like that!” Kuwata pointed out. 

Ishimaru seemed extremely alarmed. “Oowada-kun, brother, please sit down!” he begged. “The fasten seatbelt sign is on!”

Sighing, Naegi turned his attention towards Kirigiri, who had taken the seat next to them. Both of them were positioned near the back of the plane, with the only people behind them being Oogami and Asahina. Kirigiri had probably chosen such a place intentionally to stay as far away from this sort of ruckus as possible, and Naegi was glad that she did. However, even though they were next to each other, the two of them hadn’t spoken. The vampire had refused to engage him in conversation ever since she had tried to drink his blood. Though it upset Naegi that she would not talk to him, he partially understood why.

Still, despite what had happened, he was not mad at Kirigiri. She had lost control of herself because of the smell of his blood. It wasn’t as though she had intentionally tried to drink his blood or anything. The real Kirigiri would have never done something like that, so he forgave her. Besides, the incident had been solved swiftly and without any bloodshed. 

Kirigiri was paying no attention to the ruckus in the front and was sipping a can full of what Naegi could only assume was blood peacefully. Her eyes occasionally closed, perhaps because she was tired. It was still the daytime, after all, and no matter how much she attempted to adapt to the human cycle, it was quite hard for a vampire. 

Still, as much as he tried to tune out the commotion, it was hard for him to ignore all the shouting.

“Maizono-chan, help me!” Kuwata shouted to the witch girl, who was sitting next to a very startled Fujisaki. “You can use your magic to make everything all right, right?”

Maizono contemplated this, putting a finger to her chin. “…I do have one spell that should help you out!” she recalled. 

The incubus looked relieved. “Oh, thank you, Maizono-chan!” he cried out. “Use it, quickly!”

Without a moment of hesitance, Maizono took out her wand and lightly tapped Kuwata on the head, the tip of it glowing slightly. As soon as she did, Kuwata simply collapsed to the floor in a heap, fast asleep. Giggling to herself, the witch put her wand away and turned over to Fujisaki. “There!” she told the dryad. “Now we can relax.”

Fujisaki looked concerned. “I-Is he okay?” she asked.

“He’s fine, I just put him to sleep,” Maizono reassured her. “I figured it would be best for everyone. Besides, now that he’s asleep, he won’t even know he’s on an airplane!”

Enoshima, who had been completely silent until now, huffed. “Well, even if we did crash, I could have protected this plane with my powers,” she pointed out. “There’s really no need for him to be upset in the first place.”

“Dude, you should have spoken up before!” Hagakure shouted. For some reason, he also appeared to still be frightened about the idea of the plane crashing, even though it was impossible in the first place and he couldn’t exactly die twice. “You would have saved me a lot of energy I just spent on worrying, man!” 

“You didn’t need to worry in the first place,” Enoshima reminded him, staring at him blankly.

“I know, man, but it was still scary,” Hagakure responded simply before fading back into his seat.

With the commotion settled, one would think the volume in the airplane would die down, but it simply didn’t. People began to converse with each other loudly about one thing or another, with Naegi only able to pick up bits and pieces of conversation, such as Yamada complaining about the fact that the attendant refused to serve him wine or Maizono explaining to Fujisaki about why she wanted to become an idol in the first place. Sighing, he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Kirigiri did not want to talk to him at all, so he had no choice but to let her be. He wasn’t going to force her into a conversation that she was clearly uncomfortable with. Well, might as well spend the time sleeping, even though the plane didn’t exactly make for a good place to sleep with the limited amount of space and his chatty classmates.

Naegi pulled the complementary blanket over him and began to relax, thinking of sheep leaping over fences one at a time. 

It was not that easy, however. Shortly after he had settled in, Oogami and Asahina began to have a conversation in the row behind him, their voices hushed in an attempt to prevent Kirigiri and Naegi from overhearing. Unfortunately for them, Naegi could hear every word loud and clear.

“…You seemed uncomfortable, Sakura-chan,” muttered Asahina. “You always seem that way around Enoshima-chan. What’s with that?”

“Something about that girl simply does not settle well with me,” Oogami responded, her voice also hushed. “I cannot help it. Whenever I am around her, I do not get the feeling that she is as ‘heavenly’ as she makes herself out to be.”

“Huh?” the naiad responded. “What do you mean? Enoshima-chan is an angel, so of course she’s heavenly!”

Oogami took a moment to respond. “I don’t think that’s truly the case, Asahina,” she answered, her tone dim. “There’s something wrong.”

Naegi knew that it was rude to listen in on personal conversations, but he couldn’t help but be interested. Besides, it wasn’t like he had been trying to eavesdrop in the first place. The small distance between the rows meant that he could pretty much hear anything that went on behind him, whether or not he wanted to.

“How could there be something wrong with an angel?” she asked. “I just don’t get it. Angels are supposed to be pure and everything, right?”

“Enoshima was not originally an angel. She was a human who was accepted into Heaven and given its gift,” Oogami explained.

“Oh, that’s kind of like what you’re trying to do,” Asahina realized. 

Naegi took note of this, though he couldn’t help but feel badly about it. Oogami was trying to gain acceptance into heaven? Well, he supposed he could understand that sort of goal.

“…Exactly,” she replied. “In order to be accepted into Heaven, you must be free of sin and completely pure. That is why I cannot get into Heaven, but I digress. Enoshima must have been completely pure to get into Heaven, but… I suspect there must be some evil force at work.” She was silent for a few moments. “I… I recognize her soul. It feels familiar, like something I have seen before in Hell.”

Asahina fell completely silent for a few moments. “…Like, a demon?” she whispered finally, her tone cautious.

“…Yes, that is what I think,” Oogami answered simply.

Suddenly, Naegi’s train of thought was cut off when he felt a hand grasp his wrist. Glancing up, he noted Kirigiri staring at him, with her other hand holding out a small piece of paper that had something written on it. When he took it from her, the vampire instantly stood up and walked towards the back of the plan, towards the bathroom, despite the fact that the fasten seatbelt sign was on. When you had to go, you had to go, he supposed. 

The human boy read the note. It read simply to meet her in the bathroom in five minutes.

Pocketing the note, the boy waited for another five minutes. What did Kirigiri want with him? After the minutes had passed by, he stood up and walked towards the bathroom door, finding that it was unlocked. Nervously, he opened it, worried that he might catch Kirigiri indecent. How silly of him, she was the one who had invited him in, after all. 

The bathroom stall, as expected, was very tiny. There was only so much room to move around in, especially when there were two whole people occupying it. His body was practically an inch from being crushed up against Kirigiri’s, causing him to fluster at the very thought. Kirigiri seemed to notice this as well but did not make an expression to indicate that she was at all embarrassed by the situation. Perhaps she really didn’t care or she was just hiding it as she usually did. Either way, the boy had to wonder for what reason she called him in. Did it have to do with the conversation they had both just overheard? Well, he could only assume that she also overheard it. She had mentioned that eavesdropping was mainly how she gained so much information on the other students.

“You were listening just now, weren’t you?” she started off.

He nodded. “I couldn’t help but listen. I feel pretty bad about it, though. I had a hard time blocking it out,” he responded, rubbing the back of his head.

“Good,” she responded. “Then you heard Oogami-san’s suspicions of Enoshima-san.”

“It seems kind of weird to me,” he admitted. “Enoshima-san has always been nothing but nice to me. Besides, if she weren’t pure, she wouldn’t have been accepted into Heaven like you were saying before, right?”

Kirigiri placed a finger to her chin. “That’s a part of the puzzle I can’t quite put together,” she told him. “But nevertheless, I have my suspicions about Enoshima-san as well. …Well, perhaps not the same suspicions that Oogami-san has, but suspicions nonetheless.”

The boy tilted his head slightly, as though he were a confused puppy. “What do you mean, Kirigiri-san?” he asked.

The vampire crossed her arms under her chest, giving him an intense glare that sent shivers down his spine. “Naegi-kun, this is top secret,” she told him. “I’m only telling you because I have no reason to believe that you are involved with anything that I’m about to tell you. In fact, the probability that you are is close to zero.” She paused for a moment, glancing to the door. “You can’t share this information with anyone else. Do you understand?”

Suddenly feeling a huge weight on his shoulders, Naegi nodded. What could she possibly want to share with him that was this secretive…?

Confirming to herself that it was all right to proceed, Kirigiri began to speak. “There’s a rumor that there’s a project in the school called the Hope Cultivation Program,” she started. “The goal of the Hope Cultivation Program is to create a being with the talents and powers of every single monster in this school in order to harness true ‘hope.’ This project has not been approved by the headmaster and he claims to know nothing of its legitimacy, but I have reasons to believe that this project is real and is happening without the knowledge of proper authorities within this school.” She once again placed a hand to her chin, as she usually did when she was thinking. “Imagine a creature that possessed the talent and power of every supernatural creature in this school. A creature that could both cast magic like a witch and turn into a wolf whenever they pleased. A creature that could masterfully solve a murder case and could also sing like a perfect idol. That’s what the goal of the Hope Cultivation Program is.”

Shuddering, Naegi tried his best to picture this sort of creature in his head, but found that he simply could not. What would a combination of every monster in the world even look like? …It would probably look pretty horrific, right?

“Needless to say, there are several ways this project could completely backfire, despite its good intentions,” Kirigiri explained. “There are too many variables to safely proceed with this idea, and the headmaster shut it down when it was brought up to him. But I’ve been recently talking to an upperclassman who has been doing research into the existence of the Hope Cultivation Program, and he believes he’s uncovered files that state the procedure to create this creature.”

Naegi blinked. “An upperclassman?” he repeated.

“Yes. I don’t think the two of you are acquainted, but he’s a sorcerer,” she elaborated.

Naegi had certainly heard of sorcerers in fiction, but of course never met one in real life. “What’s a sorcerer like?” he had to ask, though he was derailing from the topic.

Kirigiri did not seem to mind his curiosity. It was only nature for a human. “A sorcerer is like a witch, only they have given part of their soul away in order to practice dark magic,” she told him.

“That sounds kind of shady,” he replied instantly, shuddering at the very idea.

“He’s a very shady person, but I admit, he’s very good at investigating, and the files he’s provided me are no joke,” the vampire replied. “He approached me recently about the topic, before our class left to go on this trip. He had heard I was the Super High School Level Detective and wanted me to help him uncover the truth. Well, not just him. He also has a friend who is admittedly very good at detective work as well, but she hasn’t been as involved with it as he has.”

Sensing they had gotten off topic, Naegi attempted to shift it back. “Where does Enoshima-san come into this?” he asked.

Kirigiri stiffened. “Right,” she spoke. “I have observed numerous exchanges she has had with an upperclassman who has done research on the Hope Cultivation Program. Some of them appeared to be simple friendly interactions, but there were some shady exchanges of notes and documents I happened to witness. If he is truly working on this Hope Cultivation Program, then it’s likely the files that he’s exchanging with her are notes on it. In other words, I suspect that she is also involved.”

Hesitating, Naegi looked at his feet. “Enoshima-san always seemed like a good person to me,” he told her. “So… if she’s involved, I think it’s not because she’s trying to do something bad. She might be trying to help with this Hope Cultivation Program, right? The goal is to help even if it can end up hurting someone.”

Kirigiri pondered this. “What concerns me is what Oogami-san said just now,” she told him. “Oogami-san said that she recognized her soul or something to that effect, and Oogami-san is a demon. She would be able to tell if someone was ‘heavenly’ or not, and if something feels off to her, it could mean a lot of things.” She shifted her gaze to the wall. It was becoming apparent she was uncomfortable with the amount of space that they had in the bathroom. “It doesn’t mean she’s a demon herself, but it could mean that she’s hiding something. After all, she had to be pure to get into Heaven, and they don’t let demons into Heaven. That’s why Oogami-san is having such a rough time, even though she apparently betrayed the other demons and left.” 

Naegi was extremely interested in this new information about Oogami, but he had to push it aside for now. He didn’t want to believe something was up with Enoshima, since she was his classmate, but the evidence was certainly stacking up against her. Still, until he knew for sure, he refused to doubt in her. 

“That’s all I had to share,” Kirigiri told him. “Since you’re now in on this information, I suppose I will have to keep you updated.” Once again, she gave him her harsh, bone-chilling look. “But you must promise to tell no one, not even the headmaster. Do you understand, Naegi-kun?”

Naegi nodded. “Of course!” he responded. “You can count on me, Kirigiri-san.”

Kirigiri flashed him what appeared to be a small smile, though he could not say for sure. “Anyway, now that we’re done, I’ll take my leave. Be sure to wait five minutes before you come out as well, all right?”

Naegi wasn’t quite sure what the purpose of that was, but he agreed. Once Kirigiri had slipped by him through the cramped space and out the door, Naegi counted down five minutes in his head. He wasn’t sure if he had gotten exactly five minutes, but when he figured it was close enough, he opened the door and left as well.

Instantly, Asahina caught sight of him leaving the bathroom and gave him a shocked stare. Her mouth gaped open slightly, which she then covered with her hands as her face turned tomato red. She let out a small squeak that was muffled by her hands. “N-No way!” she whispered to herself. “Naegi and Kirigiri-chan… are…!”

Naegi blinked in confusion and then returned to his seat, allowing Asahina to sit there behind him as she took in what she had just seen. He sighed and looked to the in-flight clock, which was listing that there was still another hour left. It already seemed as though this flight had been going on for a whole day! Closing his eyes, he attempted to block out the ruckus that was still going on in the front. Apparently, Hagakure had managed to spill some royal milk tea that Yamada had made for Celestia, which was causing a huge fight. 

So much had happened today, he could barely process anymore. For one last hour, he drifted to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oo, so interesting information is coming out. What do you think this means? Let me know in the comments!


	14. Hope Cultivation Program

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long. This chapter is short.

The next morning, Naegi found himself up earlier than usual. As soon as he had gotten off of the plane, the boy had climbed into his bed and fallen right asleep, perhaps fatigued by all the adventure that had been surrounding him for the last few days. When the boy turned over and looked at the clock, he noticed that it was only six AM in the morning. He sighed to himself. No one would be up and he was unsure if the cafeteria was even open at this point, but now that he was awake, there was no possible way that he could fall back asleep. Pulling himself out from the comfort of his warm covers, Naegi shoved his clothing on and looked at himself in the mirror to make sure he wasn’t a total mess. 

The boy exited the dorm, still feeling a little sleepyheaded. As expected, the hallway was completely desolate. Well, he figured as much,  seeing as many supernatural creatures liked to sleep in late. Strolling down the hall, he couldn’t help but feel small. He was just a human boy, after all, and all the people that were in the rooms were supernatural creatures, or as some people called them, monsters. Of course, he had been aware of this for the last two months, but being awake at the crack of dawn by himself just seemed to make that fact seem even more real, and perhaps even a bit scary.

Naegi took a step into the cafeteria, gazing upon how empty it was. It seemed that the food was not yet ready, but he could just grab a snack from the vending machine for now. 

As soon as the boy made for the vending machine, however, he heard a quick movement and then a pair of arms wrapped around him. Before he could react, the body pulled him into a dark closet, slamming the door behind them. Startled and confused, Naegi began to panic a bit. Was someone attacking him!? No… no one at the school would do that, right? This was the same exact closet that Fukawa had pulled him into the other day. What was with people and forcing him into this closet?

“Arghh!” screamed Naegi, still panicked. “W-What’s going on!? Let go of me!” he called out, struggling within the arms of the other person. 

Quickly, the other person withdrew. “Quiet!” a young male voice told him. “There’s no need to scream.”

“Mm, I think that’s an appropriate reaction,” a soft female voice came from somewhere within the darkness. “You just pulled him in without warning. Besides, it’s not like anyone else is awake but us…”

“Exactly, there’s no reason for us to have this level of secrecy right now. Besides, Naegi-kun can’t see with the light off,” a familiar voice pointed out. 

There was some shuffling around, and then the light flickered on. Before him stood two unfamiliar students, one male and one female, as well as Kirigiri. 

“Kirigiri-san!” Naegi exclaimed. He felt a wave of relief wash over him, knowing that Kirigiri would definitely never do anything to harm him. “What are you doing up so early? And… what exactly is going on here?”

Kirigiri frowned. “We’re having a meeting. Normally, I don’t like to be awake at this hour. It’s inconvenient for me,” she told him. “But Komaeda-kun insists that we meet early, so that no one else overhears. It’s the only time that works, considering that late night is filled with nocturnal students about.”

The white haired boy shrugged. “It’s difficult to take into consideration everyone’s species. But…” he scanned up and down Naegi’s body, making the human boy feel a little bit uncomfortable. “You’re a human. The only one at Hope’s Peak.”

The vampire put her gloved hand to her chin. “...Anyway. I suppose I should explain things in more detail. I informed you on the airplane about the Hope Cultivation Program. This is what this meeting involves.” She looked over to the other two students, presumably upperclassmen. “This is boy is Nagito Komaeda-kun. I mentioned him on the airplane, do you recall?’

Naegi thought back to yesterday’s conversation with Kirigiri inside the airplane’s bathroom. She had mentioned a sorcerer that she was working with to dig up clues as to the nature of the Hope Cultivation Program, and he was probably this boy. Komaeda simply gave a rather creepy smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Makoto Naegi-kun.” Looking closer at Komaeda, Naegi realized that he was definitely dressed for the part of being a sorcerer. He was wearing dark robes over his normal Hope’s Peak uniform which were decorated with several strange symbols that Naegi couldn't begin to understand. Perhaps they had some meaning in sorcery? 

Kirigiri looked over towards the other girl. “I believe that you have not been acquainted with Naegi-kun, is that right, Nanami-san?” she asked.

The girl nodded. “That’s right.” She glanced in Naegi’s direction and nodded. “I’m Chiaki Nanami. I’m known as the Super High School Level Gamer. I’m a fan of all games and genres. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Chiaki Nanami was dressed in the normal Hope’s Peak female uniform. She had pink hair that stopped just above her shoulders, and in it was a clip of a spaceship from some video game Naegi vaguely recognized. Unlike Komaeda, there was absolutely no indication as to what species she could be. In fact, even looking at her closely, Naegi couldn’t tell that she was anything but human. He was extremely curious and almost wanted to ask her what she was, but perhaps that would be rude. It was never stated anywhere in the rulebook that students had to inform others of what their species was. Some of the students in his class had been obvious and easy to figure out, such as Hagakure and Yamada, but others like Oogami and Fukawa did not initially state what they were. Therefore, he decided not to ask her. If she wished to reveal it at some other time, then that was fine with him. Still, though, he couldn’t help but be a little curious. After all, she definitely  _ looked  _ incredibly human.

“As I explained to you, we are researching the existence of the Hope Cultivation Program,” Kirigiri began to speak. “After some consideration, Komaeda-kun and Nanami-san thought that you might be able to help.”

Komaeda nodded. “Naegi-kun, I’m assuming no one has ever asked you to be the subject of the experiment, correct?” he asked. 

Naegi looked confused and shook his head. “Erm… no. The first time I heard about it was from Kirigiri-san yesterday,” he explained.

“There goes that lead,” Komaeda commented. “From the documents I’ve collected, I’ve found out that they can only perform the experiment on a human being. Seeing as you’re the only human enrolled in this school, you were obviously a prime candidate, but…”

“...The truth is, we don’t know how long this plan has been going on for, or what stage of it they’re in,” Nanami cut in. “They could have selected someone a year ago, or a month ago, or a day ago…”

The human boy frowned as he considered this. Was there a possibility that the result of the experiment was already walking around? 

“You said one of your demon classmates said something about Junko Enoshima-san, correct?” Komaeda asked.

“Yes. She suspected her of being unholy,” Kirigiri replied. “But I’m not sure if I know anything about that. I’m not an angel or a demon and I can’t say that I’m familiar with how things work with Heaven and Hell and whatnot. I would like to act with caution, but we shouldn’t discriminate against her simply because of the words of another classmate.”

Naegi didn’t want to think poorly of Enoshima. After all, she was a classmate, and he cared about her a lot. 

The sorcerer pondered this. “Well, it’s probably not connected, so we can leave it for now,” he decided. “Still, it’s difficult to find leads. I think our best bet so far is that it’s someone from the Reserve Course…” 

The Reserve Course? Oh, right, Naegi had heard of it. It was a new division of Hope’s Peak that had opened up a few years prior to his enrollment. Unlike the main course, the Reserve Course accepted students regardless of talent or species. In fact, many of them did not have a talent to call their own and more than ninety percent of them were humans. While they did offer good education to the Reserve Course students, Naegi heard that enrollment fees for it were incredibly high, definitely more than what his family could even hope to afford. Though it certainly wasn’t often that the boy could say this, but he was very lucky that he had managed to be accepted into this school without having to pay, even if his talent was rather inferior to his other classmates… Well, he couldn’t worry about that. That was the least of his problems right now, and besides, he didn’t mind TOO much.

“The concept of the Reserve Course is very strange in the first place,” Kirigiri remarked. “It goes against what Hope’s Peak stands for in the first place. It was likely established simply to get funds, but…” She hesitated. “I highly doubt  _ that man _ had anything to do with it. It’s simply unlike him to set up that sort of division for the sake of money.”

Naegi didn’t have to ask to know that she was talking about her father, the headmaster of the academy. She was really distant with him, wasn’t she? She didn’t even want to refer to him as her own father.

“...Why don’t we do some investigation?” Nanami asked. “There’s no rule that says we can’t be in the Reserve Course building.”

“Some of us would definitely stand out, though,” Komaeda pointed out. “Though… if I took off my robes, I could probably blend in… I’m pretty much a Reserve Course student, anyway. I couldn’t allow you Super High School Level Students do so such lowly work...”

Naegi opened his mouth to comment, but then shut it. What was he even talking about?

“...Anyway,” The Super High School Level Gamer spoke up, “I think we should take a look into the building. Naegi-kun is a human, so I think he could blend in better than you, Komaeda-kun.”

Kirigiri turned to face the human boy, giving him a stern look. “Is that alright with you, Naegi-kun?” she asked. “If we get our hands on a Reserve Course uniform, you could probably sneak in without any difficulty. You’d probably have to go when classes aren’t going on.”

Naegi felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. “W-Wait!” he protested. “What would I even be doing there? Asking people around?”

“I suppose that’s one thing you could do, yes,” the detective answered. “You could also look for documents amongst the school that might detail what’s going on. It shouldn’t be hard, and if you get caught, I’ll just say that you were doing it on my behalf and take the blame for it.” 

Naegi wasn’t too sure what to think of all this. He was usually a good student who didn’t break any rules, and something like this would be… well, quite the rule breaking experience. “Erm…” was all he could say in response.

“Naegi-kun,” Kirigiri spoke up again, looking at him in the eye. “I believe you can do this.”

For some reason, Kirigiri’s words seemed to give Naegi confidence. He slowly nodded. If she believe that he could do it, who was he to doubt her? He trusted her judgement, after all. “I’ll do it,” he decided. 

“Perfect,” Nanami spoke. “Then I think that’s all we can really do for now.”

“So, Naegi-kun will investigate the Reserve Course. Nanami and I will keep a close eye on the rest of the school, and Kirigiri-san, you continue your investigation of the other areas. Does that sound like a plan?” Komaeda asked them.

Kirigiri nodded in agreement. “Yes,” she responded.

“Right, let’s disband before students begin to come in,” Komaeda told them. “I don’t want that prefect to yell at us again.”

“Yes, meeting adjourned,” Nanami concluded.

As all of them stepped out of the closet, Naegi wondered what exactly happened last time with Ishimaru, though it wasn’t too hard to imagine. He let out a sigh, moving away strands of hair that were falling from his not so neatly combed hair. He hadn’t really taken too much time to deal with his appearance, so he hoped that he didn’t look too sloppy. The bright sun from the outside flowed through the glass windows and into his eyes, causing him to wince a bit. It looked like it was going to be another wonderful morning.

Kirigiri groaned a bit, grabbing her head and looking down. The contact from the sun was clearly upsetting her. That wasn’t surprising, given her species. Naegi knew she was very careful, but he couldn’t help but be concerned about her.

“Kirigiri-san, you should go back to sleep,” he insisted, frowning. “It’s not good for vampires to be up so early, right?”

“I know that,” she responded immediately. “But I intend to maintain a human sleep cycle as best as I can.”

Naegi frowned. “I don’t really understand why, though. I know you want to remain as human as possible, but… It’s hurting you, isn’t it?” The concern in his eyes was now evident. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Kirigiri-san. You’re really important to me, and I--” Naegi bit his lip, trying to figure out how exactly to phrase what he wanted to say. He didn’t want to overstep his boundaries, but… he truly did care about the girl, and seeing her hurt like this made him incredibly unhappy.

She turned and stared at him, not saying anything for a bit. It seemed like ages before she answered. “I have no logical reason behind my habits… I simply do them out of my own weakness. However, I know what I am doing. I am not going to allow myself to get hurt.” She looked away, trying to avoid the sun’s gaze. “...You simply have to believe in me, Naegi-kun.”

Though he was afraid for her, Naegi knew that there was nothing else he could do right now but nod and accept it. After all, he knew absolutely nothing about her condition aside from what she had shared and the probably false information that he had collected from various bits of fiction. He did trust in her, after all. 

“...I’m going to get myself something to drink. Naegi-kun, you should prepare yourself. It probably won’t take long to obtain a reserve course uniform, and after that, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll begin your mission. I’m certain that it won’t end poorly and you don’t have to worry much about it, but it’s best to be prepared,” she told him, looking at him in the eye. “I’ll let you know when I manage to obtain the materials we need.”

Naegi nodded! “Of course!”

All though he couldn’t help but feel nervous, Naegi was also a bit excited. He was really going on a mission, huh? He felt like a secret investigator...! Of course, hearing about the Hope Cultivation Program was quite alarming. Was this academy really doing such twisted experiments? Well, perhaps that’s why he was looking into it, to confirm whether or not the project had already begun. If not, he hoped he could try to stop it. After all, testing on humans like that… was that really something an academy like Hope’s Peak would do?

...No, they wouldn’t. Naegi was sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DR3 changed things A LOT. I need to consider a lot of things now, and make changes to the story as necessary. That's also why I have had trouble working with PokeRonpa, because the recent anime retconned a lot of things that were in the story and I have to go back and edit it. I also have to come up with teams for new characters, so if you have suggestions let me know.
> 
> This isn't really a good Halloween update, but whatever.
> 
> If you have suggestions for what monsters some of the dr3 characters should be, let me know!


	15. Unease

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got to writing again. I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but please enjoy. (It always looks so much bigger on my document than it actually is...)

Even though Kirigiri had said that it was only a matter of time before Naegi began his investigation of the reserve course, two weeks had passed, and she had not yet called upon his help. Recently, Naegi had noticed that Kirigiri was spending much of her time to herself. Well, that wasn’t particularly unusual. The vampire usually liked to remain on her own and only talk to one or two people on her own terms, but she hadn’t even approached Naegi, not even for a casual conversation. It worried the boy deeply. Was she, perhaps, too busy in her detective work to bother interacting with him? She was still attending class, but oddly silent throughout, often working on something else rather than the given assignment.

Naegi wondered whether or not he should approach the girl. He didn’t want to bother or upset her, but at the same time, he missed talking to her. Something about Kirigiri was alluring, calming, and made him want to be closer to her. Not only was she brave and intelligent, but she was strikingly beautiful. Her long, purple locks that reached down to her waist, her gorgeous eyes that matched her hair and seemed to glow ever so slightly… Naegi gulped at the thought. Perhaps he was allowing himself to get too indulged in his own teenage fantasies, but still… Kirigiri was mysteriously alluring, and he was entranced.

_ She’d probably think I’m weird… _

Naegi thought this to himself as he placed a bowl onto his tray, staring blankly at the various food options. While there were quite a few for regular humans like him and monsters to enjoy, there were a few more… questionable things, such as raw, bloody steaks and insects. Such a sight would normally be shocking, but at this point, Naegi was used to such things. At first, it had been jarring, especially seeing people who looked completely human actually eating such things. To think that all along, monsters had existed…

“Naegi-kun, you’re holding up the line!” Ishimaru shouted at the top of his lungs. It was breakfast, and as usual, the hall monitor was making sure things ran smoothly. “Pick something at once!”

The boy was a bit startled. “Yes, sorry, Ishimaru-kun!” he apologized before quickly dunking cereal into his bowl without another thought. He wasn’t even sure that it was what he wanted, but he had to eat it, now. After pouring some milk into his bowl, he left the kitchen and entered the cafeteria.

As usual, there was a complete ruckus. He had woken up slightly late for breakfast, and most of the other students had made their way into the cafeteria, filling the numerous tables. He looked around, a frown on his face. He wasn’t exactly sure where he wanted to sit.

Naegi took a moment to take in everything that was currently going on. At the furthest corner was Komaeda, who was practicing some sort of black magic spell on a dead rat, causing the creature to stir ever so slightly but then flop back, dead once more. Nanami was nearby, her cat hood pulled over her head as she tapped away on a Nantendo Gamegirl Advance, clearly unaware of the reanimated dead rat. The werewolf who had been previously fighting Oowada, Owari, was chowing down on an absurd amount of raw meat and making a huge mess on the ground, disgusting quite a few other students. A man next to her was trying to slow her down, to no avail. Oogami, Fujisaki, and Asahina were sharing a meal cheerfully free from much interruption, seemingly ignoring Kuwata and Oowada sitting next to them in some sort of heated debate. 

...The same as usual.

That’s what Naegi thought to himself, before he heard shouting coming from the kitchen. He quickly stood to attention, rushing in to see what the fuss was about. As soon as he entered, he saw the source of the problem: Kiyotaka Ishimaru.

“No! My wings!” Ishimaru shouted, his eyes welling up with tears threatening to spill over. “I spent ages working on them this morning!”

Shrill laughter came from behind the boy, but Naegi could not determine who it was from, since he couldn’t see anyone behind Ishimaru’s tall build and his spread wings. 

“P-Please stop this at once! If you do not cease, I will give you detention…!” he cried out.

The laughter continued. “Awww, Big Bro Ishimaru is sad because his wings got a bit of gum in them! Hehe!” the shrill voice hollered. “It’s not like it looks worse this way… your wings are already lacking!”

Naegi frowned. Ishimaru was being bullied…? By who? Try as he might, he couldn’t see anyone, but they were certainly there, as confirmed once again with Ishimaru began to shout. “N-No, stop! One is enough! It will take ages to get this out!”

“H-Hey!” Naegi called out. “Stop that…!”

“Huh? Who’s there?” the voice asked. 

From behind Ishimaru, a young girl popped out. She looked like she couldn’t be more than ten years old, with a childish face and extremely short stature. She was wearing a bright orange kimono tied with a light green sash, and her blonde hair was tied back into two twin tails. But that was far from the most remarkable thing about her. On top of her head were two, small animal ears, and on her back were four tox tails, swishing back and forth. 

_ A… kitsune? _

“Oh, aren’t you that human that was accidentally let in?” the girl remarked, an obnoxious smirk plastered across her face. 

Naegi blinked. Had word about him really gotten around that quickly? “Erm… that’s right. I’m Makoto Naegi,” he introduced, trying to be as friendly as possible towards the clearly aggressive girl.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Big Bro Naegi!” she responded, smiling brightly for a moment before turning back to Ishimaru. She reached into her sleeve and took out what appeared to be a piece of bright, pink, chewed up gum and pushed it into Ishimaru’s feathers, giggling to herself. 

Ishimaru shrieked. “P-Please, Saionji-kun, you don’t understand! Gum is impossible to get out of my feathers!” he pleaded.

“You think I don’t know that, you idiot?” the girl, apparently named Saionji, taunted. “It’s so much fun! The gum gets really stuck in there and all squishy and tangly! Besides, it’s not like your feathers were all that great to begin with! Maybe washing it again will make it look less ugly.”

This kitsune certainly had a terrible attitude, Naegi thought to himself, opposite of her adorable appearance. She was knowingly terrorizing Ishimaru for her own amusement, seemingly unaffected by his desperate pleas. Panicking, Naegi wondered how in the world he was supposed to solve this unusual incident. He felt as though anything he would say to this girl would likely backfire horribly. She was already picking on Ishimaru, and Naegi was certain that rubbing her the wrong way might cause her to pick on him instead. Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t just allow this to continue…

“H-Hey, wait, maybe you should--”

Before Naegi could get his sentence out, he was suddenly pushed aside by a powerful force, nearly being thrown into the wall, though he was just barely able to stumble back to his feet. When Naegi looked up, he quickly discovered who exactly had pushed him.

“Hey, what the fuck is going on here!?” Oowada shouted, looking like he was about to explode with fury. “You pickin’ on my bro again, you dumb fox?” His fist was curled up into a tight ball, his teeth clenched so that his fangs were showing. “You better get the fuck out of here right now before I punch you into next fucking week!”

Saionji smirked. “Ooh, scary!” she laughed. “But Big Bro Oowada never hits girls, so your threat is completely empty!”

“‘Yer sure making me wanna change that right now!” the werewolf screamed, approaching the girl and snarling at her. “Now scram!”

“What if I don’t wanna?” the kitsune taunted. “In fact, I have quite a bit of gum left!”

“Don’t you fuckin’ think about putting another goddamn piece of gum in my bro’s wings!” Oowada screamed out, his voice echoing throughout the kitchen and likely into the cafeteria as well, as some more bystanders were gathering at the front to watch what was going on. “I know I said I wouldn’t hit a girl, but I might have to make a special case! My bro worked damn hard on his wings this morning and he doesn’t deserve to have them fucked up by some bored little fox. I don’t give a shit if you think they’re ugly, they look fine to me! Now you have one more chance to scurry on out of here before you find yourself in the infirmary!”

Naegi shook a little bit, blown away by the intensity Oowada had. He was really brave to stand up for his friend like that, wasn’t he? 

Saionji took a few steps back, her calm expression wavering. After a moment, she burst into uncontrollable tears, sobbing loudly. “Waaaaah…! Big Bro Oowada is bullying me!” she shouted. 

“O-Oowada-kun!” Ishimaru shouted, nervous. “P-Please…!”

Oowada gritted his teeth. “F-Fuck…” he muttered to himself. “Goddamnit, stop with the crocodile tears…” Despite his words, however, he seemed hesitant to continue, and a bit remorseful. 

“Big Bro Oowada is such a meanie!!! Waaahh….!!!” she cried louder and louder, allowing her massive amounts of tears to fall openly on the ground.

Naegi flinched. Even though Saionji had been the one picking on Ishimaru, he couldn’t help but feel badly for the girl. Oowada was much bigger and surely much stronger than she was, so the threats must have been alarming. Naegi wondered how badly the werewolf was capable of injuring Saionji in the first place… surely a single punch would be enough to put her in the hospital for quite a while. 

“Hey, maybe we should all take a moment to calm down…” Naegi suggested. “Let’s not get anyone hurt for no reason…”

“N-Naegi-kun is right!” Ishimaru agreed. “I do not want anyone to end up in the infirmary… Bro, please don’t hurt her…”

Oowada growled. “But you worked so damn hard on ‘yer feathers, I don’t want all of it to go to fuckin’ waste because some dumbass kid thought it would be fun to pick on you…” he grumbled.

“W-When I was a kid, this happened all the time, so I am used to taking gum out of my feathers… It takes quite a bit, but regardless, I am sure my feathers will be back to normal in no time!” Ishimaru insisted. “So please, do not cause a further ruckus… we have already disrupted things enough here…”

The werewolf turned around and saw a hoard of students gathered at the door, all watching the drama in complete silence. “God fuckin’... fine, but I better not catch this kid putting another goddamn piece of gum in your wings, or else I won’t be so nice. C’mon, bro, we gotta get you cleaned up before that shit gets even more stuck.”

The angel quickly shook his head. “I still have work to do! I cannot allow the cafeteria to go unmonitored during this busy hour! What if another quarrel is to break out? What if the place catches on fire again?” he asked. “I must stay… I am certain the gum will not be a big deal.”

“I ain’t gonna let it just sit there,” Oowada sighed. “Can’t someone else look after the place for a bit? Like… uhh…” The werewolf scanned the area, before his eyes settled on Naegi. “Naegi, why don’tcha look after the place for a bit while we get this shit cleaned outta Ishimaru’s wings, huh? I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

Naegi froze in place. “H-Huh, me?” he asked. “Why me?”

“‘Yer a dependable sort of guy, right? I’m sure you ain’t capable of causing harm. Your arms look like they’d snap in two if you tried ‘ta punch someone with them,” Oowada explained. “And uhh… dunno, you were just there. It seems right, you know?”

“W-Well, I mean, I guess I could,” he responded. He still wasn’t entirely sure what the whole thing would entail, given that there was several disasters going on in the cafeteria at any given time. He was just a human, how was he supposed to deal with supernatural problems? “It’s more important that Ishimaru-kun gets his wings cleaned, and I guess there won’t be much trouble…”  
Ishimaru looked hesitant. “While I am certain that Naegi-kun is more than capable for the job, I… it still seems wrong for me to simply abandon my job!” he protested. “I am the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, after all!”

“Don’t worry about it, Ishimaru-kun,” Naegi insisted. “You’re always working really hard for the sake of all of us… I’m sure no one will mind if you took some time to take care of yourself, too.” 

“He’s right, you deserve to take care of yourself too, you know?” Oowada agreed. “So let’s go, c’mon. We don’t wanna waste much time.”

“Very well… Naegi-kun, I leave this in your capable hands! Please let me know at once if something goes wrong, however, and I will come running to fix it!” Ishimaru declared. 

Oowada and Ishimaru left the kitchen, pushing themselves through the hoard of students, which was beginning to break up as they realized the drama was ceasing. Naegi sighed and turned towards Saionji, who was still sniffling, her face red and her eyes filled with tears. 

“Bullies…” she whimpered out between sniffles, before she walked out, leaving Naegi alone.

Now that he was by himself, Naegi found himself unsure of what to do first. Should he should watch everyone else? He stepped outside of the kitchen and into the cafeteria, positioning himself near the door so that he had a good view of everything that was going on. Things seemed to have calmed down after the drama, many students going back to their breakfast and gossiping about the occurrence. No more fights were breaking out, and it seemed that many of those who had been causing a mess had gone off to continue their misadventures elsewhere. For that, Naegi was glad. His job would be simple, and he wouldn’t have to worry about a possible situation that would be impossible for a human boy like him to resolve.

He smiled to himself. Really, this entire school was full of wild creatures, but it was exciting, far more so than any school he had been to before.

Slowly, the cafeteria began to clear out. Naegi sighed, wondering if it was all right for him to continue on with his day and leave the place behind. Yet, Ishimaru still hadn’t returned, and there were a few more people left. He didn’t exactly want to bail out before he knew he was done. He leaned against the wall, beginning to once again sink into a daydream so peaceful he nearly fell asleep standing up.

It was the clacking of heels that suddenly brought Naegi back into reality. He snapped back, his head darting to the side as he noticed Kyouko Kirigiri slipping by him and into the kitchen. What was she doing up so late? Didn’t she usually like to get up early in order to maintain a human sleep schedule? “Kirigiri-san!” he called out to her. 

Kirigiri stopped in her place and whipped around, turning to stare the boy right in the eye. Her gaze was cold and intimidating, even more so than usual. A shiver ran down Naegi’s spine as he looked up and down her. She looked… pale, more so than usual, and tired. “...Good morning, Naegi-kun,” she replied. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, uh, there was an incident and Ishimaru-kun put me up to doing his job,” he explained, leaving out quite a few details. That wasn’t exactly important right now. “Are you alright, Kirigiri-san? You look tired.”

“Of course I’m tired, I’m a vampire and it’s the morning,” she pointed out. 

Well, she was right, but that wasn’t what he was concerned about. “You’re usually up by now… are you sure you’re alright? Is there anything I can do to help?” His voice was full of concern. Kirigiri certainly didn’t look well, and it was painful for him to see her suffering. 

However, the vampire simply brushed off his concerns. “I’m fine, please don’t worry about me,” she insisted. “I simply missed my alarm clock, I assure you it’s not a cause for concern. I was up late working on a case that’s eluded quite a few detectives.”

Naegi frowned. Despite this, he still didn’t seem convinced. “If you say so, Kirigiri-san.” Her words simply didn’t sit well with him. He had noticed a decline in her condition, ever since she had nearly attacked him back at Jabberwock Island. Was her body really beginning to wear itself down? “But… please, if anything ever happens to you, Kirigiri-san, let me know how I can help, all right? I don’t like seeing you like this.”

A small smile appeared on Kirigiri’s face. “Thank you, Naegi-kun. You’re very kind hearted,” she remarked. “It’s quite endearing.”

“E-Endearing!?” Naegi repeated, rubbing the back of his head as a blush appeared on his face. “W-Well, you know… I, uh…” He was at a loss for words. “...T...thanks, Kirigiri-san.”

“As expected, your reaction was quite amusing…” she mused. “It’s always adorable to see how you react to things… you show your emotions plain as day on your face. You’re an open book, Naegi-kun.”

Once again, he was stunned into silence, his face reddening at an increasing pace. “E...erm…” he stuttered. “Kirigiri-san…”

“...I’m teasing you, Naegi-kun, don’t worry,” she told him. “...However, I will keep your offer in mind.”

Naegi brightened. “Really? I’m glad…!” He sighed with relief. “Please just let me know how I could help, Kirigiri-san. You’re really an important person to me, and I want to do anything I can. There’s nothing I won’t do to help you, Kirigiri-san!”

“Those are some dangerous words, Naegi-kun,” she warned.

“But it’s true…!” the human boy insisted. “I really would do anything to keep my friends happy. To see people I love suffering… it’s really the worst.” He truly could not think of anything more terrible. To Naegi, his friends were the most important aspect of his life, and he would do anything to protect them. Though he knew there was not much he could do, here in this academy full of monsters and other supernatural creatures, he still wished to be of assistance. If there was any way of helping Kirigiri, he was sure that he would do it.

Kirigiri blinked a few times, taking his words into consideration. “...You truly are a mysterious man, Naegi-kun,” she told him, a soft smile on her face. She did not bother to say anything else before she walked into the kitchen, bound for the refrigerator containing the various kinds of blood. 

The boy smiled to himself. He wasn’t sure what he could do to help, but he knew that eventually, there would come a time where he would have to, and he was more than ready for that.

…

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOOO I want to address a few things.
> 
> 1\. I don't know when I will be able to update again, school is ending and afterwords I want to try writing. But my writer's block is SO terrible that I haven't been able to write anything ever. I will try my hardest to break out of it, but it'll take a while.
> 
> 2\. I removed Naekusaba from the pairings list because I felt like it really wasn't working with the story, and I've lost interest in the pairing in general. I still like it, just... not as much. Sorry to all of those who were looking forward to seeing that in this story. 
> 
> 3\. I want to focus more on the other characters as well, so I put some more interactions in here... What other characters would you like to see more of? Let me know in the comments.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading, comments are not required but greatly appreciated and certainly help with my writer's block. Thanks guys for sticking with me.


	16. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. I think I'll be writing short chapters from now on. It's focused on Kyouko, again.

As dusk fell, Jin Kirigiri looked outside his window and watched the sky turn dark. He sighed deeply to himself, musing on the years gone past. A few years ago, he had finally achieved his goal of becoming the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy, a feat some thought he could not accomplish. Of course, running the school was no easy matter. Not only were they harboring students with extreme talents, but the students, of course, were also supernatural, making things far more complex than an average high school. He often wondered if he was doing a good job, but the school seemed to be running smoothly now. Still, even so, the headmaster could not help but feel worried. There was quite a bit on his mind right now, and nothing seemed to be able to put him at ease.

Sighing, he took a seat at his desk and laced his fingers together, deep in thought. He always kept his desk nice and empty, save for a single framed photograph that faced him. Jin could remember the day that photograph was taken clearly. His daughter had been so happy, so carefree, so clueless, so… human.

He grit his teeth together. How had he managed to mess up like this? The most important person in his life, and he had allowed her to become one of  _ them _ . He never, ever, wanted his daughter to get involved with the world of monsters, and tried everything in his power so that she wouldn’t. And yet…

“It’s no use thinking about what ifs, Jin.” A voice interrupted the headmaster’s thoughts.

Jin quickly sat up, narrowing his eyes and washing the concerned look off of his face. “Kizakura, when did you get here?” he asked.

In front of the desk was a man in a bright white suit and matching fedora, clutching a flask of whisky and looking down at the headmaster with a frown. It was Koichi Kizakura, a fellow teacher at Hope’s Peak and more importantly, one of Jin’s closest friends.

“You’ve been down recently, I can tell,” Kizakura remarked. “I wanted to pay you a visit.”

Jin frowned. He hadn’t even noticed the door opening. Had he been lost that deeply in his own thoughts?

“I can tell what’s on your mind,” Kizakura spoke. “It really isn’t that hard.” The man slide his hand out to offer the flask to Jin, but the headmaster simply ignored it. “You have to lighten up a bit. Staying calm has always been one of your strong points, hasn’t it?”

Kizakura was right. Jin was usually much more calm, wasn’t he? But this was a matter concerning his daughter. He couldn’t be so relaxed when it came to her. Now that he had lost his wife, Kirigiri was the only person that he had left. Sure, Kizakura was a good friend of his, but it wasn’t the same thing. He loved and cared about his daughter deeply, and the last thing he wanted was to see her suffering and in pain, even if she always rejected him. Did she truly not believe that he cared about her…? If only he could make her understand why he had to leave. But she was stubborn, and wouldn’t hear it, and almost outright refused to speak with him.

“...My apologies,” he answered. “But I can’t not worry about my own child.”

“I understand. I’ve been keeping a close eye on Kyouko-chan, as well,” Kizakura admitted, pulling his hand back and retrieving his flask before slipping back into one of the couches. “She hasn’t been looking well, has she? It’s hard for me to really tell, since I’m not teaching her class, however…” He frowned. “Years of experience with vampires tells me something’s not right with her.”

Jin looked at his hands. “...It’s because her transformation is incomplete,” he explained. “All this time, Kyouko has been sustaining herself on the blood of animals. You and I both know that isn’t how vampires are supposed to live.”

Kizakura took a swig of his flask before contemplating his friend’s words. “...Without drinking the blood of a human, vampires are still partially human, in a sense,” he remarked. “Though they feed off of blood, they’re still capable of gaining nutrients from human food and can walk through daylight should they have enough protection, but…” He paused. “It’s when a vampire first drinks the blood of a human that they truly are a vampire, isn’t it? Some say that it’s possible to cure vampirism as long as they haven’t fully transformed, but it’s just a rumor. Far as I know, no one’s ever been cured.” He leaned back, placing a hand to his stubble and scratching it. “Maybe Kyouko-chan’s holding out on that.”

“...Even so, vampires can’t exist in that state for very long,” Jin replied. “If she insists on holding out like this, then…”

“She’ll die,” Kizakura finished.

Jin clenched his fists, tensing up. He absolutely could not allow that to happen. He knew that his daughter likely did not want to be a vampire, but he would rather her be a monster than lose her. Panic flooded through his brain. What would he do to prevent this from happening? He had already offered to feed Kirigiri his blood in case it ever got to the point, but she had rejected him. If she really continued to resist, then… then…

“Don’t panic,” Kizakura told him. “You’re getting worked up again, aren’t you? Well, I can’t blame you. You’re her father, after all, and you want the best for her. Obviously, I don’t want Kyouko-chan to die, either.” He sighed. “Should it come down to that, Jin, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that she survives. You can mark me on those words.”

While Jin wasn’t exactly sure what that would entail, he relaxed a bit. “...Yes, of course,” he replied. “...Thank you, Kizakura.”

“No problem. Kyouko-chan is important to the both of us. I really hate seeing her suffer. Though, you should know what will happen once she drinks human blood,” Kizakura reminded the man.

“I’m well aware of what happens. After consuming human blood for the first time, a vampire stops aging and essentially becomes immortal. Kyouko will be unable to die of anything other than a few things that can only be done should a hunter comes after her,” Jin recalled. “...Kyouko will end up living forever, most likely.” How cruel it must be to be immortal, the headmaster thought. “I’d rather that than her dying young.”

“She’ll get a lot more powerful, too. There’s quite a few powers that come with being a vampire, you know. I’m sure they’ll help her as a detective,” Kizakura mused. “I really wouldn’t worry about her, Jin. She’ll be just fine.”

The headmaster sighed. This conversation had eased some of his worries, at least, but at the same time, the man couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive. Not only was there the possibility of Kirigiri dying, but it was also probable that she might lose control of her thirst and go after Naegi. Surely, though, she would do something before that happened, right…?

* * *

Kirigiri gasped as she lurched against the wall, clutching her throat. Her teeth ground together, her fangs grazing against her bottom lip and slicing it ever so slightly. The taste of her own blood was unsatisfactory, unfulfilling. On her nightstand sat an empty can of deer blood, finished only minutes ago. On the bedroom floor lay about three crumpled up cans of various flavored blood, all finished within the last day. Usually, one should think that four cans of blood should be enough to satisfy the thirst of a young vampire.

She was in pain. Her throat felt like it was on fire and her eyes shone with a glowing, crimson gaze. She was thirsty, so thirsty she couldn’t stand it.

There was an easy solution to all of this, and yet… and yet…

Why couldn’t she do it…? Perhaps drinking human blood felt as though it was a commitment to a life of eternity. It would ease her pain, but grant her a near inescapable life with no expiration date.

_ I’m being childish. _

There was no way out of it, now. The rumored cure for vampirism likely did not exist. Her fate had been sealed the moment that vampire woman’s fangs had sunk into her neck. She knew what she had to do.

“Naegi-kun,” she whispered to herself. That boy had promised her yesterday that he would do anything to help her. But was he really willing to help her in this way? After she became a true vampire, she would require a steady intake of human blood. The only place she would be able to get it from was Naegi, and she didn’t wish to hurt him or condemn him to such a thing. He was too kind for his own good.

Falling back onto her bed, Kirigiri closed her eyes and tried to drown out her thirst, as well as the pain coursing through her body.  _ I need to try to hold out a bit longer. Just a bit longer… that’s all I need. _

All she needed for what? She wasn’t even sure anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your comments, they really mean a lot and they helped me work through writer's block! 
> 
> Hopefully the next few chapters will focus on some other characters too... I just really like Kyouko.
> 
> Any more comments would be appreciated.
> 
> THANKS FOR 300 KUDOS!


	17. Potions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I don't know what to name any of my chapters. Sorry).

After spending a majority of the day looking after the cafeteria, Naegi finally was able to off on his own. By the time Ishimaru had finally fixed his wings, dinner had already gone past, and Naegi had taken it upon himself to take over duty then as well. Luckily for him, things seemed to be quiet in the cafeteria. There was some minor arguing, as usual, but no one was trying to kill each other. Naegi decided to get a quick dinner consisting solely of a soda and a cup of instant ramen, but it was more than enough for him. He hadn’t been feeling that hungry, anyway.

“It’s getting late,” he muttered to himself as he threw away the remains of his meal. “I should probably get back into my dorm, or the teachers might get angry again…”

While he was certain that nothing would happen to him after dark, it was a safety precaution that the staff took seriously, so he had to as well. With that thought in mind, the boy turned and left the cafeteria, humming to himself. He was proud of the work he had done that day, and hoped that Ishimaru would find it satisfactory. Naegi allowed his legs to lead him towards his dorm, not really paying much attention to where he was going. It wasn’t as though he needed to pay much attention, anyway--...

“-Oof!”

Suddenly, Naegi was knocked backwards, stumbling as he lost his footing and fell straight to the ground. _Just my luck…_

 _“_ Ah, Naegi-kun! Are you alright?” a concerned voice called out.

Naegi looked across the room to find Maizono, who had also fallen to the ground as a result of the collision. She had a few books in her arms, as well as numerous bags that had fallen to the ground.

Immediately, Naegi felt sorry. “M-Maizono-san!” he gasped out. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going!” He jumped to his feet and rushed to help the girl, grabbing whatever he could from the floor. “This is my fault! I’m so sorry!”

“You don’t have to apologize so much, Naegi-kun,” Maizono insisted, a bright smile on her face. “See, I’m perfectly fine!” She brushed her uniform off and stood up, collecting what Naegi had not from the ground.

Still, Naegi felt badly about it. “Erm… You seem to be carrying a lot of things, Maizono-san, do you need any assistance?” he asked.

“Sure! That would be a big help, Naegi-kun,” Maizono answered. “I’m carrying these things to the chemistry lab, actually. It’s a big pain going all the way up to the fourth floor… You’d think that there would be elevators in this school.”

It was true. The entire layout of the school was incredibly questionable, though that was to be remedied when the entirety of the students were to be transferred to the still in construction new building. There were staircases at the other ends of the hall, rooms in odd places, and not to mention the fact that the pool was on the second floor above the giant gym. When Naegi had asked about it before, Maizono had simply told him that it was some sort of magic trick and that he shouldn’t question it. Still, magic tricks that completely defied reality…? It was mind boggling, really.

“Oh, sure!” Naegi replied. “Just give me whatever you can’t carry, Maizono-san. I’ll be able to handle it!”

Laughing a bit, Maizono handed him a few books.

_God, these are heavy...! What are these books, anyway?_

Naegi briefly glanced down at the titles. “Advanced Potions, Spells for Transfiguration… Wow, Maizono-san, all of these are books for witches, right?”

“That’s right!” Maizono replied. “I have a lot of studying to do, you know. During our next show, my manager wants to have some special effects that will really dazzle our fans’ minds! So, I’ve been researching spells that I could do to really make things exciting.” She began to talk more as the two of them ascended the stairs and crossed various hallways. “I’ve done a few of them in the past… There was this one show we had where I had sparkles appear all around us on stage! It’s a really simple magic trick, but my fans really seemed to like it. Of course, it’s something easy enough for most of our human viewers to not suspect anything.”

Naegi considered this for a moment. “So you really involve your magic in your shows, huh…? I hadn’t really noticed.” For a while now, the boy had been a fan of Maizono’s. To think that there would be a day where the two of them could talk casually and become friends… It was really unbelievable.

“Yup! Oh, Naegi-kun, how long have you been watching my performances?” she asked as the two of them approached the fourth floor.

“Erm… quite a while, actually,” he admitted. “To be honest, I started watching them when I found out the two of us went to the same middle school. I saw you a few times then, too…”

Maizono brightened up at the mention. “Right! I remember. I always wanted to talk to you, but we never really got the chance until now, did we?” she remarked.

Naegi was taken aback by her response. “Huh… you did?” he asked.

“Of course! You remember back then, right? I first noticed you back when that crane got lost and injured… You did a really good job bringing it back to full health. I really wanted to talk to you after I saw that, but… I guess I never really got the time,” she recalled fondly, her eyes shining brightly. “I thought about helping you with a healing spell or two, but you seemed to be doing fine on your own.”

How could he forget that crane…? He thought back on it fondly. In the end, it took a lot of effort, but he was glad the crane was able to return without a single injury left. “I never really noticed that you saw,” Naegi remarked. “And I wasn’t trying to be cool or anything… I just wanted to help the crane.”

“I know, silly,” Maizono teased.

“But um… I guess it all worked out in the end, right? I mean, we’re here now, talking to each other…” Naegi remarked as he pushed the chemistry door open, holding it with his back to make sure that it didn’t slam closed as Maizono entered the room. Immediately, the foul stench of chemicals filled the boy’s nose, causing him to cringe slightly. It reminded him of a pool, only if the pool had been severely polluted. “Funny how that happened, uhh...” He was at a loss for words.

After the witch entered the room, she plopped her various bags down onto one of the tables with a sigh, stretching her exhausted arms out in the air above her head and lacing her fingers together to extend her back. “Ah… much better!” she remarked, relief filling her. “Naegi-kun, you can put the books right next to my bags, all right?”

Naegi nodded and did as he was told, putting the various books in a stack on top of the counter. Phew, it felt good to finally get that off. Those textbooks were almost unbearably heavy.

As he did so, Maizono reached into her bags and pulled out a few odds and ends. Several different kinds of plants that Naegi couldn’t recognize, some vials containing odd liquids, and even some small bones. She began to arrange her various ingredients in front of what looked like to be a miniature cauldron, which she placed on a hot plate. “Hm… let’s see… what do I need for this?” she thought out loud, taking one of the textbooks Naegi had brought up and placing it next to her, flipping through various pages until she found what she was looking for. “Oh, I see… so… huh… that’s a bit complicated…”

Naegi watched with interest, having no idea what the girl was even doing. It looked so… complex, and like something out of a movie. Was this really real…?

“Em, Maizono-san?” Naegi spoke up. “What are you making?”

“Oh! This is a potion to turn whoever drinks it into a frog,” Maizono answered casually, a bright smile on her face.

“H...huh…? Really…?” Naegi replied, looking startled. “There’s really a potion that can do that…!?”

Maizono laughed. “Of course I’m not making something like that, silly. There is a potion that can do that for about ten minutes maximum, but I don’t really need it. This is a potion that protects people from sunburns,” she explained. “It’s a bit complicated, though.”

“Huh… sunburns? Can’t you just use sunscreen?” Naegi remarked.

“Well, you _can,_ but magically made medicine is much more potent. Sunscreen doesn’t always work when it’s so bright out, you know?” Maizono pointed out. “This one won’t have those sorts of problems! Unless you’re really close to the sun, which I don’t think you have to worry about unless you plan on becoming an astronaut.”

“Erm, no, not really…” Naegi responded, watching as Maizono unscrewed one of the vials and filled the cauldron with a pink tinted solution.

The boy watched carefully as she continued. Maizono plucked a few petals off of a mysterious plant and scattered them within the mini cauldron before stirring carefully for about thirty seconds. When she was done, she added a few more and stirred again. She then proceeded to remove a captured insect from one of her vials and dumped it into the liquid, prompting a ring of smoke to come out of the pot with a loud banging noise.

“A-Argh!” Naegi shouted in alarm. “W-What was that?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Maizono assured him. “That happens all the time, it doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just the magic taking effect. I wouldn’t do anything too dangerous with you around.”

“Too dangerous…?” he repeated, unsure. What did that mean…?

Maizono simply continued on, stirring the pot over and over again and occasionally sprinkling in a few more petals. After about five minutes, the witch stood back and admired her work before pouring the fluid into a much larger bottle. “There!” she exclaimed, smiling. “All done. I don’t think I made any mistakes.”

Naegi glanced towards the pinkish liquid settling in the container. “Erm… it looks good,” he remarked, trying to encourage her but having no idea how to do so. This was his first time seeing such a thing, after all. “I bet you did a really good job, Maizono-san.”

“Thanks, Naegi-kun!” Maizono replied, grinning at the boy. “I hope it works. I’ll give it to Kirigiri-san when I see her next, but she’s been in her room all day.”

...Wait. “Kirigiri-san?” he repeated.

Oh, that made sense, actually. Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t actually the season to be wearing sunscreen randomly. Kirigiri, however, needed protection from the sun.

“...But didn’t Kirigiri-san have something already?” Naegi recalled, thinking back to the field trip at Jabberwock Island. “It was some sort of stone that I saw you charge up with magic.”

“I’m not really experienced at that particular spell to keep it charged,” Maizono admitted. “It’s not one that I even tried since before meeting Kirigiri-san, so it only works for a bit and she still needs a lot of protection. I really hope that this potion works better for her.” She looked at the bottle and contemplated this.

Was that really it, though? Naegi wasn’t so sure. Recently, she had been acting stranger… It began to worry him. Was the sunlight starting to become too much for Kirigiri? She had mentioned something before about not drinking human blood. Maybe she really did need it now. If that were the case, then he would do anything he could to help her. After all, Kirigiri was someone really special to him..

“Naegi-kun, you like Kirigiri-san, don’t you?” Maizono asked casually.

It was so sudden that Naegi jumped, his eyes widening. “H-Huh?” That was the last thing that he was expecting. “I mean… yes, uh… Kirigiri-san is a good friend, you know? Of course I like Kirigiri-san!” He laughed it off, rubbing the back of his head. He was trying his best to sound like he completely misunderstood the question, but his reddened cheeks and stuttering weren’t really helping his case.

Clearly, Maizono picked up on it. “You know what I meant, Naegi-kun!” she teased. “You really like Kirigiri-san in a romantic sense, right?”

The boy had to compose his thoughts. For a while, he had been interested in Kirigiri. He had always found her beautiful, mysterious, and extremely kind at times. He absolutely loved spending time with her. A few times, he had contemplated his feelings for Kirigiri but had shoved them behind, trying not to think too hard on it. But he had to be clear with himself now.

“...I do,” he admitted, embarrassed, finally allowing himself to realize fully. “Kirigiri-san is… thoughtful. She’s kind and perceptive and she’s really pretty, too... When I’m with her, I feel really happy, you know? Like my heart is trying to jump out of my chest.” He gulped. “When I hear that Kirigiri-san is suffering, I feel heartbroken… I really don’t want her to suffer. I want to help her in any way that I can.”

Maizono merely smiled. “Then you can, Naegi-kun,” she told him. “I’m sure Kirigiri-san feels similarly about you, too!”

“Huh…?” he replied. “What makes you think that? It’s so hard to tell what Kirigiri-san is thinking… Or even what she’s feeling.”

“She’s tough, isn’t she? But trust me, I know she likes you. I’m an esper, after all!” Maizono assured.

“Wh...what…? You are?” Naegi responded, his eyes painted with surprise. “But… I thought you were a witch… are witches psychic as well?”

To that, the idol laughed. “I’m not really an esper,” she answered. “I just have a very good intuition.”  

Naegi felt a bit embarrassed, having believed her for a minute. “Right…” he replied.

Shortly after the joke, Maizono’s face suddenly hardened into a more serious look. “Kirigiri-san is a vampire. From what I’ve studied about vampires, vampires need human blood to survive… A lot of the vampires here are fed the blood of animals instead. They probably do have a way of getting human blood, but Kirigiri-san doesn’t.”

“Kirigiri-san told me herself she wouldn’t ever drink human blood,” Naegi recalled.

“That’s not possible,” Maizono responded, her tone frank. “I wonder why she would say something like that? She’s a very rational person, but it’s just not possible…”

Naegi didn’t exactly like where this conversation was heading. “It isn’t? What do you mean…?”

“Erm… I might not know all the details, but… Vampires are technically still part human until they drink the blood of a human,” Maizono explained to him. “But… it’s a dangerous condition to be part human and vampire… I don’t know how long you can stay like that for, but it’ll definitely kill you.”

“Wh...what… it’ll kill her!?” Naegi exclaimed, fear surging through him. Then, all this time… the reason why she had been so thirsty, the reason why she had been distancing herself lately, the reason why she had been _off…_ was because she was _dying!?_

Maizono’s expression was grave. “Yes,” she told him. “I don’t know how much longer she intends to go on like this for, but…” She looked at him right in the eyes, her gaze stern and almost chilling. “You can’t let that happen, Naegi-kun… I know you’re someone that Kirigiri-san trusts a lot. You have to convince her otherwise. I… understand her not wanting to accept becoming a full vampire. Being a vampire is difficult, but… The alternative is death.”

“...It must be hard for her,” he whispered to himself, looking at his feet. What exactly did being a vampire entail…? It meant drinking human blood, it meant hiding in the shadows, it meant never being able to come out during the day… But… what else…? It wasn’t as though he had done his research. There must be other things, some other horrible things preventing Kirigiri from accepting her transformation. “I don’t know what it’s like, but… she really must be in pain…” He didn’t want that. The last thing he wanted to see was the girl he loved suffering.

“Please, help her, Naegi-kun,” Maizono requested. “It would be really sad if we were to lose her.”

With that, Naegi nodded. “I will. I’ll do anything I can to help her. I promise, Maizono-san,” he told her, his mind made up.

Maizono seemed to brighten up after hearing his words. “I’m glad!” she replied. “I’m very happy that she has a person like you to look out for her. You’re really a good guy, Naegi-kun.”

The human boy grinned sheepishly, his face reddened. “You don’t have to flatter me…” he muttered.

“I’m going to take this to her right now, all right?” Maizono told him, gathering up her things. “In the meantime, try not to worry! This should help her for a bit. You should probably get back to your dorm before one of the teachers finds you.”

Oh, crap! The time! Naegi had completely forgotten. “C-Crap, you’re right! It’s already past my curfew!” he exclaimed. “I have to go back! I’ll see you tomorrow, Maizono-san!”

With that hasty goodbye, the boy swiftly scurried out of the chemistry lab and down the stairs, back to the dorm rooms. He retreated into his room and changed himself into his pajamas, before throwing himself into the bed underneath his warm sheets. Tomorrow, he would try to talk with Kirigiri about what he had learned today. He hoped he would be able to convince her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I've been worried recently about the quality of my writing and I'm finding it hard to continue onwards, but I'm trying to fight through the self esteem issues. This chapter was a bit longer than the last so that's pretty good, at least.
> 
> I appreciate all your kind comments. Even if I don't respond to them, I'm still reading them! I'll try to respond more, if you guys would like?


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